Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2026)

Start Up © Maha Heang 245789/AdobeStock

WHAT’S IN THAT BOX?

Homer is a maritime start-up, born when Samantha Weckesser was a research assistant given access to a large USCG data set on shipping containers that had failed inspection. The task: discover if actionable information could be derived from that dataset to ID problems that could relate to real-world problems. There was a problem. Undeclared or misdeclared cargos – particularly hazmat cargos – can end in catastrophe at sea and in port. Today,

Homer offers Calypso, built on a machine learning model based on 20 years of data on failed container inspections, a system to ‘go through’ containers, identifying the most high- risk units and predicting which are most likely to fail inspection. n an industry that moves more than 200 million contain- “What we found was not just bad data — it pointed to re- ers annually, the margin for error is razor thin. When it al-world risk,” Weckesser said. “Certain cargo types, certain comes to hazardous cargo, the consequences of getting it shippers, certain origins; there were patterns that clearly indi-

I wrong can be catastrophic. Fires at sea, port explosions, cated higher likelihoods of failure.” environmental damage and supply chain disruption have all Those failures are not trivial. Misdeclared hazardous mate- been traced back, at least in part, to one persistent issue: un- rials can ignite, explode, leak or otherwise compromise vessel declared or misdeclared cargo. It’s a problem that Homer, a safety. In worst-case scenarios, they can lead to total vessel young maritime technology startup, is aiming to solve. loss, environmental disasters and billions of dollars in dam-

Co-founded by Samantha Weckesser, Homer emerged ages. Even less severe incidents can ripple through global sup- not from a traditional shipping background, but from a data ply chains, triggering delays, port congestion and mounting problem. While working as a research assistant with the U.S. costs. For crews at sea, the risks are immediate and personal.

Coast Guard Sector New York, Weckesser was given access Out of that initial research came Calypso, Homer’s ? agship to a large dataset of containers that had failed inspection. The technology platform.

task was straightforward: determine whether the data revealed At its core, Calypso is a machine learning system trained on any actionable insights. It did. more than 20 years of historical data tied to failed container 16 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • April 2026

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