Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) will expand its use of Orca AI’s maritime operations platform across dozens of additional vessels, following a pilot covering five ships and more than 130,000 nautical miles of operations.
The move reflects a broader shift across the shipping industry as operators progress from trialling AI-based navigational tools to deploying them at fleet scale.
During the pilot, close encounter events fell by 48 per cent per 1,000 nautical miles, while average minimum passing distance rose by 10 per cent.
One vessel, the Pacific Sentinel, saw an 84 per cent reduction in open-water close-encounter events and a 50 per cent increase in minimum passing distance within six months of installation.
Orca AI’s system pairs onboard technology with shore-based analytics. Its SeaPod unit uses computer vision to detect and classify vessels and objects around the ship, including non-AIS targets such as fishing boats and buoys, aiding bridge teams in congested or low-visibility conditions. Its FleetView tool gives shore teams data to review incidents, spot trends and support crew training.
Sachin Saharawat, Technical Director at EPS, said: “Our seafarers are at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to equip our Masters and bridge teams with practical technologies that enhance situational awareness and support safe decision-making. The pilot gave us objective data on how navigational risk changed over time, and the results gave us the confidence to expand deployment across our fleet.”
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Yarden Gross, CEO and Co-Founder of Orca AI, stated: “EPS has taken a disciplined, data-driven approach to adoption. These results demonstrate how AI-based situational awareness can reinforce good seamanship – reducing high-risk situations, supporting calmer decision-making and delivering measurable improvements both on the bridge and ashore.”
For more information:
Orca AI – https://www.orca-ai.io/
