Dolgo, a new maritime tech start-up spun out of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Enterprise Accelerator,  announced the development of a new AI software platform to transform shipyard skills training.

Tampa, Florida based Dolgo says the software will retain expertise presently being lost as large numbers of workers retire from the sector. Dolgo is presently undertaking trials of the prototype Large Language Model (LLM) with the University of South Florida College of Marine Science.The LLM enables workers to share knowledge, allowing companies to scale up skills for both new and existing roles.  The Dolgo software platform will officially be launched in February at the Blue Innovation Symposium in Rhode Island.

Dolgo founder Nithesh Wazenn said the software will enable shipyards to create a private LLM platform that continuously updates with proprietary knowledge from their workforce. Workers will be able to call each other on the platform to seek advice on engineering problems, with the AI learning on the job.

The software is being launched to ease pressure on the global shipyard sector which is facing a skills time bomb. In the US alone the average age of the 146,500 strong US shipyard workforce is 55. The aging workforce challenge is compounded by rising shipyard demand which is expected to more than double in the US over the next decade. In addition, turnover of younger workers is high with shipyards reporting attrition rates of 20% leading to a growing skills gap and persistently high training costs.

Mr Wazenn said the Dolgo software further aims to tackle the long-standing issue of  ‘ownership’ of know-how. He said shipyards are reporting that older workers can be reluctant to share valuable knowledge to younger workers being paid the same wage leading to a ‘race to the bottom’ as new workers skills cannot replace those retiring.  Mr Wazenn said the AI will incentivize workers to share expertise where the engineers are equitably rewarded with bonuses or benefits each time their knowledge is downloaded from the platform.

“We’re very excited to report positive testing on the prototype ahead of formally launching for the market in February 2026,” said Mr Wazenn. “It is well established that one of the biggest challenges facing the shipyard industry is the looming cliff edge of large numbers of workers retiring and taking their expertise with them. We believe Dolgo’s AI software holds an answer. Retaining precious expertise will not only drive efficiency and improve safety it can help prevent costly and time-consuming mistakes and equipment damage.”

Mr Wazenn said the platform can further be deployed in new and emerging maritime technologies like autonomous vessels where the highly specialized nature of the work means there is a significant skills shortage in the sector.

“Marine autonomy can only move as fast as the workforce within it,” he said. “Dolgo’s AI can supercharge innovation by enabling new workers to enter the industry and upskill at speed while fast-tracking the skill set of existing workers.”

Dolgo is one of seven pioneering ocean startups to be chosen by the Seaworthy Collective, a Miami-based non-profit that supports blue tech entrepreneurs.  With only 10pc of startups accepted onto the program the companies are able to participate on full scholarships with no equity or fees as a result of Seaworthy’s $14M NOAA Ocean Enterprise Acceleratorspartnership, The Continuum. The Continuum is a coordinated network of accelerators that fast-tracks blue tech startups to market.

“We were thrilled to see Dolgo successfully graduate from Seaworthy Collective’s first cohort under our partnership with NOAA and the Continuum, ” said Daniel Kleinman, Seaworthy Collective’s Founder & CEO. “Dolgo embodies the human-centered design we preach at Seaworthy, and believe the company can change the industry for the better. We are proud to support Waz and Dolgo and their continued success with our partners and network.”