Page 22: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2023)

MEET THE CTO ward] decarbonization, we had our eyes on the year 2050 [pre- separately, every single combustion separately. mised on rules from the International Maritime Organization]. Already now, machine learning and arti? cial intelligence

Now our programs – short-, medium- and long-term – are all is applied into these technologies to have the feedback loop. developed to support achieving that [2050] goal. They’re controlled as ef? ciently as possible for learning how the

The ? rst step is looking at the process to make the transition product is operating in that environment. Arti? cial intelligence possible; it’s not an overnight change, it’s not black and white. is also used for controlling operation of installed engines and

We start from energy ef? ciency, lowering the fuel consump- systems onboard of ships. With remote monitoring it’s possible tion of vessels, which not only helps the environment but it’s to get the signals from ships to operational centers, where we are helping the economics case [for shipping] too. able to use arti? cial intelligence to monitor the signals, to learn

LNG is a very good transition fuel from well to wake, with the real condition, helping to discern what is normal, what is 5 to 20% [ef? ciency] improvements. abnormal. In our current system it takes two weeks for the AI to

The next steps are fuels which are carbon neutral, fuels like learn an installation, a ship, and thereafter it can give guidance methanol on biosynthetic basis. Eventually [we’ll move to] on what would be bene? cial for the ship to modify. It also gives fuels that don’t have any carbon in the fuel itself. A lot of fo- hints on how to further make savings on fuel or operating costs, cus is put now already to support the long-term development even learning about how to further extend the service intervals. of fuels like ammonia and hydrogen, too. So, there are many So arti? cial intelligence is already a big part of activities.

steps in the transition, which are ongoing, with all focus on supporting the industry to take the pollution down to zero by Can you point to one recent project, either in- 2050. ternally at Wärtsilä or externally on one of your client’s ships that most clearly illustrates Wärt-

Can you put in perspective how AI with all of silä’s decarbonization aspirations in maritime?

its promise and peril will impact the work that Yes, this collaboration is best evidenced with the collabo- you do within the walls of Wärtsilä research ration we have in this vessel from Wasaline, Aurora Botnia, and development center? where we collaborate on new technologies. [We have an en-

Arti? cial intelligence and machine learning are indeed, in gine on the ship] which is running on natural gas, and we have some segments, a powerful way to further improve opera- developed and validated onboard on a ship a technology which tions. The engines being produced today for ships have very is cutting the methane emissions from such an engine by about powerful automation and control functionality built-in, com- half. So it’s taking the cleanest engine in the world, and make puters and sensors monitoring the operation continuously. it even better. Thanks to the collaboration and the operation

And we are also controlling functions. These engines typi- onboard a vessel, we could validate and prove the concept. cally have from six to 20 cylinders in one engine, and already [Read more about the project and the ship in the related now combustion is being controlled in every single cylinder story on page 23] 22 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • December 2023

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