In a challenging industry like ours, missions go smoothly when you select the right partners and collaborate. Get to know our partners, The Machine Odyssey sponsors, who are providing reliable navigational data, port assistance and green biofuel.

In this Q&A, Sea Machines interviews StormGeo, Blue Water Shipping, and Bunker One, about their decisions to support The Machine Odyssey and how their services support our mission and the next generation of autonomous operations.

Q: Please start by telling us about your companies.

StormGeo: Founded in 1997, StormGeo is a global leader in meteorological intelligence services and decision support, with leading solutions in shipping, oil and gas, renewable energy, utilities, cross industry and aviation. Our products help customers manage risk, optimize performance, reduce costs and increase revenue. We are headquartered in Bergen, Norway, and have 24 offices in 15 countries and 515 employees. As a participant in the UN Global Compact for Sustainable Business in the Oceans, StormGeo’s passion for climate and the protection of natural resources is a motivation to support our customers in making environmentally responsible business decisions.

Blue Water Shipping: Blue Water Shipping is an international transport and logistics company offering our clients customized solutions with unique service of high quality. Our foundation is knowledge, decades of experience and competent and dedicated employees. Being a versatile company, we offer a large variety of services covering the entire range of shipping, transport, freight forwarding and logistics within the business areas: Road, Sea & Air – Port Service – Oil, Gas & Industrial Projects – Renewables – Reefer Road – Reefer Sea – Marine Logistics. Blue Water is represented with more than 60 offices worldwide.

Bunker One: We have 190 bunker experts in more than 22 supply locations waiting to go the extra nautical mile for our customers. We have a long and proven record of professional bunker delivery either by truck, ex pipe or by barge in port or at high seas. More than 8,400,000 metric tons of bunker fuel are delivered annually around the world.

Q: Why did you choose to sponsor The Machine Odyssey project?

StormGeo: Autonomous navigation is a very interesting topic and fits well with our approach towards supporting the maritime industry – using a combination of big data, smart algorithms and humans to ensure a safe and efficient navigation. Furthermore, we have a good personnel relationship with Sea Machines, so it’s a no-brainer for us to support such an interesting project.

Blue Water Shipping: Easy – we find this project of great interest, and the future will no doubt be very promising for autonomous vessels.

Bunker One: At Bunker One we’re always looking for new opportunities to progress the way the bunkering industry works and how we support our clients. When Sea Machines approached us about their exciting new project, we wanted to not just deliver, but to push the envelope in fueling the project. To add a little extra spice to The Machine Odyssey voyage, we asked if we could deliver renewable diesel to help improve the carbon footprint of this amazing voyage, which aligned well with Sea Machines’ values of environmental stewardship.

Q:  How will your product support Sea Machines’ mission to autonomously voyage 1,000 nm around Denmark? 

StormGeo: For a vessel to sail autonomously across the oceans requires very reliable and trustworthy weather data. With StormGeo, a world-leading provider of accurate weather forecasts as well as navigation data, we feel we can contribute to the successful voyage of Machine Odyssey. Our solutions are designed to run on every type of vessel, to support an effective communication between ship- and shore-side, especially in the context of Sea Machines’ The Machine Odyssey, as it is extremely important that the ship and shore speak with the same voice – a key strength of our s-Suite solution.

Blue Water Shipping: We are active as terminal operators, stevedores and port agents also in both German and Danish ports. Therefore, we are daily on board a variety of vessels providing services to the crew and owners. We will work closely with The Machine Odyssey crew to provide services at every port across the voyage.

Bunker One: By supplying Renewable Diesel (HVO) to Nellie Bly, we at Bunker One contribute to lowering the CO2 emissions during her voyage around Denmark and showcasing to the entire industry, that green fuel works on any project, be it established trade routes or new and exciting experimental projects such as The Machine Odyssey. Decarbonizing the whole shipping industry is an overwhelming task, but by creating awareness about the green alternatives and fueling projects, like the Nellie Bly voyage around Denmark, we would like to help this transition.

 

Q: Why is important for the marine industry to adopt innovative technologies, like autonomous technology?

StormGeo: The world keeps changing, new technologies are continuously introduced into the market and the pace of change with an increasing economic pressure increases every day. Furthermore, everyone needs to do its very best to reduce emissions and decrease the carbon footprint and it’s especially here that new technologies can help. So, without the drive for innovation and the courage to implement and adopt new solutions, the marine industry won’t be fit-for-future.

Blue Water Shipping: For us it is of great importance to involve ourselves in green and autonomous technology. We are not vessel owners, but we have a large number of forklift trucks, reach stackers, tug masters, a couple shore cranes, etc., [for which we,] together with the manufacturers, investigate the possibilities for green and autonomous solutions.

Bunker One: Minimizing the risk of human error by implementing autonomous and computer-controlled systems is an important aspect of increasing the safety of our maritime colleagues and partners — especially in busy ports, where even a moment of unawareness quickly can escalate into dangerous situations. Helping to achieve new standards of safety in shipping is at the top of our agenda at Bunker One and something we support and strive for every day.

 

Q: What will you be watching for in this mission? Any challenges for your team to overcome? What are you most proud of?

StormGeo: We will keep an eye on the progress of The Machine Odyssey to ensure that you are always up-to-date with weather data and ENCs (electronic nautical charts). Our team is on stand-by to support 24/7 in case of any problems and we are looking forward to hearing more about your user-experience and share feedback with the audience and customers.

Blue Water Shipping: As agents in the ports that Nellie Bly will be calling, we will with interest follow how the operation on board will perform. Hopefully, also with our assistance, it will work out well. The challenge – if it can be called so – will be to have everything running smoothly. We are proud to be involved in this project showing one of the future ways.

Bunker One: At Bunker One we excel at delivering bunker among the best in the industry. To organize a supply line tailormade for this operation is not an easy feat. That is why we always are ready to adapt to changes with short notice and maintain the ability to ensure a steady fuel supply for Nellie Bly to keep her in motion during this voyage. Creating specialized solutions is part of our DNA and we love a challenge.

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You can learn more about the sponsors at the links below.

StormGeo: https://www.stormgeo.com/

Blue Watter Shipping: https://www.bluewatershipping.com/

Bunker One: https://bunkerone.com/