The move reflects growing pressure to improve operational excellence, strengthen compliance and prepare for increasingly connected and AI-enabled operations.

Lloyd’s Register  is expanding its maritime digital transformation capabilities with a growing portfolio of integrated advisory, assurance and software services and solutions designed to help shipowners and operators move from fragmented digital activity to scalable, commercially focused operating strategies.

The move comes as operators face growing pressure to demonstrate performance, comply with tightening regulation and integrate increasingly complex onboard and shore-based systems. While digital investment is rising, many organisations struggle to translate technology into consistent operational and commercial gains.

Against this backdrop, LR is positioning digital transformation as a strategic issue rather than a technology one, linking its Digital Maturity Index (DMI), Digital Transformation Advisory (DTA) service and a new maritime digital assurance framework into a structured pathway for adoption including full alignment with the LR-owned OneOcean portfolio of software products.

Central to this approach is the DMI, which has now been completed by more than 50 maritime companies globally, including a significant proportion of Greek shipowners. The benchmarking tool provides a fact-based assessment of digital readiness and application, replacing perception-led decision-making with measurable data and peer comparison.

The DMI is increasingly acting as the entry point into wider advisory and implementation programmes. Companies are moving from benchmarking into Digital Transformation Advisory, where LR works with organisations to define strategy, prioritise digital investment and develop phased implementation roadmaps across vessel and shore-based operations.

Pranav Kumar, Global Advisory Lead – Operational Excellence, LR, said: “Many organisations are investing heavily in digital technologies but failing to realise value because systems, data and operational processes remain disconnected.

“Shipowners are increasingly looking for support that goes beyond benchmarking. They want a clear pathway from digital assessment through to implementation, assurance and operational change, particularly as AI and remote operations become more prominent across the sector.”

Building on this foundation, LR is introducing a Maritime Digital Assurance Framework that brings together systems, data and operations (including decision-support software such as OneOcean) into a single framework structure, with artificial intelligence acting as an overarching layer. The framework is designed to provide assurance at each stage of the digital lifecycle, addressing a gap in the market where organisations can deploy systems but lack a clear mechanism to validate performance, integration and decision-making.

The assurance framework will also support work related to remote operating centre (ROC) feasibility studies and future autonomous and remotely operated vessel concepts. This work aligns with the IMO’s recently adopted MASS Code at MSC 111 and reflects growing industry focus on digital and secure operating models, automation, real-time operational oversight and AI applications.

Alongside technology and strategy, LR continues to place emphasis on the role of people in digital transformation. Findings from LR’s updated Global Maritime Trends Digital Transition Barometer show a six per cent increase in digital engagement among maritime professionals. The result points to a growing recognition that digital tools, when implemented effectively, can support both operational performance and crew welfare.

Insights from the OneOcean Thetius research programme further underline that digital transformation depends as much on skills, training and culture as it does on technology, with companies increasingly focusing on how digital capability is embedded across their workforce.

LR and OneOcean will present their latest digital transformation developments during Posidonia 2026, taking place in Athens this week.