Short-Term Optimal Ship Routing via Reliable Satellite Current Data

Abstract

Optimal ship routing systems require highly accurate oceanic data. Our technological innovation is based on the use of high-resolution currents derived from the fusion of various satellite observations by harnessing Artificial Intelligence methods. Today, routing strategies rely mainly on the outputs of operational oceanic models that cannot always guarantee the accurate prediction of surface currents. In this study we compare our HIRES currents data stemming from satellites, with commonly used operational oceanic models, reducing errors by more than a factor of two, both for a nowcast and short forecast scenarios. We explore a specific optimization example along a highly commercial shipping road in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, demonstrating the advantage of our method. We show that high reliability on the observed oceanic conditions allows for a short-term oceanic routing that can significantly optimize the ship’s voyage time as well as the ship’s fuel consumption. This low-cost/low-risk solution can be employed today to advance shipping decarbonization.