As Shipping Companies Brace for New Emissions Rules, Bearing Launches AI Product to Predict and Manage Impact

New environmental regulations are poised to reshape the economics of maritime shipping. Bearing is making sure its customers will be ready.

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Bearing has released a new AI-powered application that accurately predicts Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) scores for every vessel in the trillion-dollar maritime shipping industry, so that shipping companies can quickly gauge their risks, increase their ratings and make better-informed business decisions about the effects of the regulations.

Starting in 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will require ship owners to report CII on an annual basis, with each vessel receiving a grade from A to E. To trade internationally vessels will need to bear a certificate of compliance. Owners will also have to file multi-year plans to improve emissions on each of their ships.

The business stakes are high. Vessels with better CII scores are expected to command higher market rates, while those with lower scores will be forced to charge less. Operators have only months to prepare before the new regulation takes effect on Jan 1. Yet they don’t know how their vessels will score or what they can do to boost their results.

Luckily, Bearing does. Its artificial intelligence (AI) platform ingests a vast range of data about the global shipping fleet, enabling it to predict vessels’ fuel consumption, speed and other aspects of performance with startling accuracy — even without data from onboard sensors.

Using the same technology behind Bearing’s Smart Routing and Performance Analysis products, CII Optimization delivers results without shipboard integrations or customer IT resources. It leverages Bearing’s deep learning models, ECDIS-verified routing engine and database of historical weather conditions to forecast CII scores and recommend potential changes to improve CII performance, including vessel speed, fuel type, sailing schedule and underwater cleaning.

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Using Bearing’s CII Optimization product, shipping companies can:

• Easily track and monitor real-time CII ratings for all vessels (as the year progresses) and easily see which vessels potentially have problematic ratings
• Accurately forecast a ship’s end-of-year CII rating based upon historical routing and weather patterns
• Simulate different operating conditions (e.g., different speeds) and different weather scenarios to see how that would impact the CII rating
• See the tradeoff between financial returns and potential CII rating.

“Bearing carefully listened to the voice of our marine professionals and developed this practical CII Optimization tool in a very agile and timely manner,” said Ryuichi Osonone, Director / Senior Managing Executive Officer at IINO Lines. “It will help us to identify which vessels need attention with ample time for actions to improve their scores. This intelligence will play an important role as we adjust to the new regulatory requirements and execute our plans to reduce emissions across our fleet.”

“We’re all about helping shipping companies make smarter, more data-driven strategic decisions,” said Bearing CEO Dylan Keil. “These companies know the new CII regulation will affect their business, but they have no way to accurately assess its impact on a ship-by-ship basis. We do, by combining our best-in-class AI models with data from around the world. With our CII Optimization product, shippers can see what we see and take the steps they need to reduce their environmental impact while improving their bottom line.”

To accelerate ongoing R&D and go-to-market efforts for the new CII product, Bearing also announced $7M in post-seed funding from existing investors Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and AI Fund, bringing Bearing’s total investment to $10M.

“Bearing has made a remarkable impact in a short period of time, earning the trust of some of the world’s largest maritime shipping companies,” said Representative Director, Executive Vice President of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Yoshio Kometani. “This new product demonstrates Bearing’s deep understanding of customer needs and the remarkable power of its AI platform. We are proud to partner with Bearing as it helps to make international shipping more efficient and environmentally friendly.”

“Bearing is using AI to answer the climate crisis,” said AI Fund General Partner Andrew Ng. “Dylan, David and team have built a unique deep learning system that, through accurately modeling and optimizing fleet fuel efficiency, is helping both shipping businesses and, even more importantly, our planet.”

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