Technology company ZeroNorth has unveiled its new advanced fuel model, which uses a combination of AI and best practice naval architecture knowledge to predict the expected operational fuel consumption of any type of vessel in the global fleet.

The new service combines the ability to accurately predict fuel consumption in real operational conditions for vessels that users have little or no data on with the ability to quickly learn and adjust to a very high level of accuracy as the vessel reports data or makes high frequency data available.

In one of ZeroNorth’s largest R&D investments to-date, the company has assembled a team of more than 25 data scientists, data engineers, software engineers and naval architects to develop and continuously improve the model.

The fuel model will use machine learning technology to learn from the vast amount of data held within the ZeroNorth platform, across all vessels and vessel types.

The fuel model combines and learns over time from more than 1.2 billion data points, spanning vessel reports, high frequency sensor data, weather data, AIS signals, port stays, dry-dock and cleaning events, paint characteristics, vessel characteristics and more. It uses this information to predict expected fuel consumption for a vessel, no matter its itinerary, route, condition or current operating pattern.

Traditional fuel models that only rely on naval architecture principles are generally highly tailored to a specific vessel type and its design. This ‘static’ view of a vessel’s fuel consumption has been useful mostly for owned fleets and for predictions requiring a certain level of accuracy. However, the industry’s demand for ongoing optimised vessel operations requires a dynamic solution that can handle and understand complex situations for any vessel, whether owned or chartered, and whether it has sensor data available or not.

ZeroNorth’s new fuel model generates 34% more accurate predictions when compared to existing solutions and the current industry standard, and lowers the bias of results by 42%.

Speaking on the announcement, Pelle Sommansson, Chief Product & AI Officer, ZeroNorth, said: “Our new fuel model supports improved transparency across the value chain. Fuel consumption information is a critical pillar of accurate charter party agreements, and our new model will help to fill gaps for charterers and operators alike on vessels being taken on shorter-term time charter.”

Søren Meyer, CEO, ZeroNorth, added: “We are extremely proud to unveil our new fuel model, which we believe is a key next step forward for a truly digitalised shipping industry. By combining the best and widest range of available data at our disposal, we have created a model that can generate accurate and quick fuel consumption predictions for any vessel trading in the global fleet.

“This new model will generate more powerful optimisations from our platform but, more importantly, will also enable ZeroNorth to make an even greater contribution to the industry’s decarbonisation efforts.”