The second ‘De-mystifying digitalisation and AI in maritime’ roundtable series was held in March 2026 at the offices of Bureau Veritas in Paris, and kicked off with an exploration of regulations, governance and data management, with special attention paid to the unintended consequence of regulations. This was followed by a spotlight discussion of the role AI can play in enhancing safety and an assessment of what best practice data culture looks like.
The result was a fascinating exchange of ideas, with huge value offered by each participant, including our featured speakers: Paris-based Sabrina Meksaoui, Chief Revenue Officer, at Everysens, which digitises rail freight operations; and London-based Gavin Miller, National Operations Manager at the Confederation of Passenger Transport, which is the main trade body for the UK’s bus and coach sector.
Together, the 15 attendees – led by moderator Namrata Nadkarni, Intent Communications CEO – brought a rounded view of the drivers of data use and AI in bus and rail transport and explored key differences and similarities with maritime when it comes to embracing new technologies. This included drawing on their deep expertise and first-hand experience of driving results for businesses and consumers through harnessing the power of data, prompting an insightful exchange among our maritime and technology experts.
Here are some of the key takeaways for our sector from the day:
Standalone AI regulation not ideal
A large part of the discussion for session attempted to answer the question of whether there was a need for the use of AI in maritime to be regulated – and attendees debating who the preferred authority to manage the data and compliance should be. Individuals pointed out that the IMO drives much of maritime operations, the use of AI was spread out across various sectors building the case for class, flags, associations and insurers all to shape regulations – and some pointed out that an independent AI specialist may be most appropriate.
The EU AI act was flagged as emerging regulation that could impact maritime in the near future, but one of the attendees warned that the manner in which the regulation was crafted made it unenforceable – making it more of a gimmick than an effective piece of regulation where compliance could be tracked.
By the end of session 1, there was widespread consensus that AI should be seen as a tool rather than a standalone issue. Thus roundtable attendees recommended that the use of AI be integrated into existing regulations in the maritime sector with guidance available from relevant bodies.
Regulations can have unintended consequences
Guided by featured speaker Gavin Miller, attendees discussed the impact that AI and data regulations could have on the sector, with smaller operators more likely to face greater comparative administrative burden and higher costs for compliance. Information was shared on how the bus sector has responded to the UK’s introduction of the government-funded Bus Open Data Service (BODS) which mandates the free-to-access provision of data to authorities and third-party developers nationally, including bus timetables, fares and the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) for buses operating all across England. This allowed parallels to be drawn with maritime operators as well as ports, which may vary in terms of size, customer base, location and internal structure.
Attendees agreed that meaningful AI and data regulation would be challenging to craft given the speed at which the technology was evolving and warned that guard rails could hold back innovation, create technology monopolies and favour specific geographical regions that have the resources to invest heavily at early stages.
Data sharing remains a challenge
Our first roundtable held in London had already highlighted the significant challenge maritime faces in the form of an unwillingness for businesses to share data – hampering their ability to unlock the digitalisation potential. Attendees at the Paris roundtable echoed this sentiment, with suggestions of concrete steps that could be taken to address the challenge.
I became apparent that maritime rising to the challenge and replicating the success of the bus sector in realising the advantages of data sharing will require a collaborative approach involving government authorities and industry players. This will identify the data that can be reasonably shared and in which format, ensuring only necessary data is gathered. This would make a clear distinction between commercial and non-commercial data and also ensure there is buy-in from all parties, while creating a level of transparency that would allow maritime data to be integrated into other systems and increase visibility of the sector.
Safety data was seen as low hanging fruit for data gathering and analysis by AI, which would be able to identify trends that may not be immediately apparent to maritime experts working in silos. Incident reporting with details of vessel type, location, crew training and more was seen as a good test bed for this type of project.
Attendees suggested that standarding data markers was vital to create a common playing field for the sector to benefit from. This would also be expected to improve the quality of the data, with some individuals recommending the introduction of minimum standards via the International Maritime Organization (IMO), working alongside class societies.
Customer demand will force digital progress
Featured speaker Sabrina Meksaoui led the discussion of which commercial factors were driving digital change in transport, pointing out that the rail sector was already seeing increased demand from customers who were willing to pay a price premium to coordinate the just in time arrival of rail at ports to align with vessel calls. The rail industry has now installed GPS to provide cargo owners with real-time visibility – despite years of resistance – because the commercial imperative had become clear.
Attendees pointed out that maritime is yet to see sufficient demand for this level of location and resource transparency, with one individual warning that shipowners have direct commercial benefit from the uncertainty of freight supply as this can lead to high spot market rates. However, some experts believe that the pressure for maritime will first be experienced in ports as this is impacted by land-based expectations of visibility and transparency around assets.
Creating a culture of digital change requires persuasive language
Our discussion noted that the language and culture built around emerging technologies would play a key role in the industry more fully realising the digitalisation potential. While technical experts discuss ‘neural networks’ and ‘structured data’, there is a case for placing more emphasis on easily understood terms like ‘safety’ and ‘profit’.
Equally, while the business case for new technologies might appear self-evident for specialists, expressing this in terms that can be easily understood – ‘this will cut our costs by enabling us to preemptively maintain our ships’ – is more likely to establish a greater willingness to invest in new solutions.
This equally applies to addressing concerns around technology replacing people’s jobs and undermining their sense of purpose. AI solutions can be used to enable human employees to focus on the most valuable tasks, while relieving them of the burden of repetitive admin, and the language used to describe these tools should reflect that fact.
Attendees emphasised the value of presenting the commercial aspects of any digital or AI implementation ahead of social or moral benefits as this was most likely to resonate with decision makers. However, when the commercial and reputational benefits could be combined, the argument for technology adoption was deemed likely to be most persuasive.
The human element must be retained
All attendees underlined the value of human input when using AI. Experts highlighted the fact that AI is a ‘people-pleaser’ with a tendency to hallucinate and introduce errors. As a result, genuine expertise to assess the outputs is a necessity, with one speaker stressing that a portion of time saved through the use of AI must be ringfenced for checking outputs.
Other solutions proposed during the day, including the need to appoint a ‘Chief Verification Officer’ who could be on hand to ensure businesses are working from a single source of truth that isn’t being skewed by individual search histories or biased algorithms. Some maritime experts warned that it would be more effective to have a verification expert as part of each business team as the task of verification was mammoth and would require technical expertise.
As complacency could prove one of the unintended consequences of automating systems, including bus routes and ship positioning, attendees unanimously agreed that a human expert must remain the final arbiter of high-risk decisions. However, the possibility to automate low value outputs was largely seen as a valid use case for AI even in present day.
Risk and liability must be considered
Risk and liability were seen as the pinch points for widespread AI adoption and will form the focus points for Intent Communication’s next roundtable that will be held in Singapore on the sidelines of Singapore Maritime Week.
If you would like to nominate yourself or a colleague to participate in the roundtables, please do reach out to info@intentcommunications.co.uk. Please note that seats are limited, so preference would be given to relevant contributors.
We would like to thank our current sponsors for their support: Platinum Sponsor Bureau Veritas and Cobalt Sponsor Britannia P&I Club.
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