In what marks its first contract with a major European ship operator, Finland-headquartered Groke Technologies will supply, install and commission its revolutionary Groke Pro Situational Awareness System to a pair of bulk carriers operated by undisclosed Greek interests.

The agreement with the Greece-based shipowner follows the success of Groke’s pioneering situational awareness amongst the Japanese shipowing community, particularly aboard the MC Shipping owned wind-assisted bulker Pyxis Ocean.

Groke Technologies will deliver the Groke Pro Situational Awareness system for installation later this month to a 60,960dwt geared bulk carrier and a slightly smaller ultramax vessel.

Marc van der Meij, Groke Technologies’ Head of Global Sales, said: “The ship management company was very impressed with how the technology is making the domestic Japanese fleet navigationally safer, especially during operations where watchkeeping visibility is poor or in heavily congested waters.

“A priority for the company is to keep its seafarers, ships and the environment safe and strongly believes that the greater ship situational awareness the Groke Pro system provides makes shipping safer and more energy efficient.”

The scope of supply to Greek operated vessels includes the complete Groke Pro package. The sensor unit, installed atop the bulkers’ monkey deck, houses two cameras: a thermal night camera and day camera, as well as IMU, Dual GNSS, and AIS receivers.

Powered by a central unit installed inside the vessel, AI and machine vision technologies are used to detect and analyse objects in the vessel’s surroundings. Sensor fusion technology melds data from multiple sources to provide a superior situational awareness, day or night.

For the bridge of each vessel, a 27inch fixed display unit will be installed in addition to iPad Pro based tablets running the user interface. Groke Fleet, a new solution for fleet managers shoreside, will also be included in the package. Installation and commissioning takes one day and will be carried out while the vessel is operational.

Groke Technologies’ CEO, Juha Rokka, said: “The importance of this order cannot be understated. Greek of companies control more than 20% of the merchant fleet, making it the world’s largest operator of tonnage. Greece is a hugely important but difficult maritime market to penetrate, so delighted that our first European order is from a Greek operator. This is a significant development not only for us, but for maritime safety globally.”

Groke Technologies’ situational awareness system was developed to address the safety of sailing in real-time. One feature that elevates Groke Pro from a digital watchkeeper to an intelligent companion is its real-time risk analysis capability. This presents the crew with crucial as-it-happens information about the vessel’s surroundings on which to base navigational decisions.