Shipping benefits from a structured response to the overlapping challenges brought by accelerating digitalisation, data-driven best practice, new fuels and emissions reporting, writes Capt. Aniruddha (Andy) Desai, Loss Prevention Director , Middle East, India & Africa, NorthStandard.
The recent International Maritime Organization pause on work to implement a Net Zero Framework (NZF) on emissions from ships underlines the key role regulatory scheduling plays in global shipping.
But, whether the one year postponement of a decision on the NZF foreshadows an indefinite delay or offers a breathing space to iron out practical challenges, it demonstrates once more that maritime regulators do not operate in a vacuum.
An IMO 2029 deadline for new ships to install a new type of ‘S-100’ electronic chart provides a different example of the need for owner circumspection on what regulators have in mind. This schedule relies on the completion of work by other standards bodies and ECDIS suppliers, for example, before full S-100 functionality can ‘go live’.
Both cases show that the finer points of regulation are not the only things on the move. As it shifts towards a new generation of marine fuels, shipping is also accelerating its use of digital tools, machine learning and AI in ways that transform planning, operations and reporting on the bridge and in the engine room. Both developments involve new procedures which also create the risk of crew skill gaps that can be hard to track.
Similarly, if better connectivity delivers clear benefits for fleet optimisation – as well as for crew welfare - it also increases a ship’s exposure to cyberattack risks.
Measured responses
While NorthStandard is not a training provider, it is a stakeholder committed to ensuring the preparedness and vigilance of Members and their crew in sustaining safety, environmental responsibility, security and operational effectiveness. The club draws on its experience of handling over 3,500 loss prevention enquiries each year across all major ship types to advise and support the response of Members to pain points in a fast-changing maritime world.
Against an unpredictable geopolitical backdrop, for example, NorthStandard’s ‘GlobeView’ maritime intelligence platform is seeing sharply increased use by Members as a tool offering immediate insights that help them navigate potential threats and plan voyages with greater confidence. GlobeView also offers seafarers key information to mitigate risk on approaching a specific port.
Providing comprehensive information is also key to NorthStandard’s response to new fuels. The club offers web alerts, articles, briefings, podcasts and webinars to help Members navigate decarbonisation and understand its impact on contracts, charterparties, risk and liability.
Easy access to Analytics and AI
In addition, NorthStandard has worked with fuels analyst VPS to develop the one-of-a-kind Fuel Insights marine fuel quality platform. This offers Members actionable insights on bunkering fuels based on proprietary live data from VPS on availability and characteristics including various off-spec parameters in ports worldwide. NorthStandard is also partnering with BetterSea in promoting its digital FuelEU pooling platform.
Where advancing digitalisation is concerned, the club has brought several solutions to market to help Members meet the challenges of working with new technologies and procedures. Especially impactful has been its ECDIS Training Assessment (ETA) online tool, developed by NorthStandard’s Loss Prevention team with the UK Hydrographic Office to address concerns over usage of current ECDIS technology.
Already, around 7,000 deck officers have taken the multiple-choice format ETA, which identifies weaknesses or gaps in ECDIS skills by telling users not only when, but why they have given a wrong answer and allows them to undertake further learning on personal or company devices. Anonymised at the user level, consolidated ETA data generates fleet-wide reports to help owners identify areas that require targeted training.
NorthStandard has also partnered with SureNav to offer Members a 15% discount on a package of five remote navigational audits to assist bridge team management.
In another development which supports shipowners in identifying areas for training focus, NorthStandard was the first P&I club to work with Orca AI to deliver real time alerting and predictive insights for watchkeeper based on AI. Enhancing their ability to safely navigate through congested waters and challenging weather conditions, the Orca AI solution offers transparency on any safety gaps in fleet operations.
The capabilities of AI are also at the core of ShipIn FleetVision™, which monitors and analyses CCTV images in real time to detect and alert fleet managers of unexpected on-board events, operational anomalies and machinery concerns that can undermine safety and efficiency.
Human conversations
While geopolitics, decarbonisation and digitalisation continue to drive change across the maritime industry, it is critical to recognise that ‘best practice’ also remains a human endeavour that requires attention to individual tasks.
NorthStandard and its Members continuously engage in broad-based discussions on the human behaviours which can compromise safety, for example where overly complex procedures invite unauthorised workarounds. Conversations on near miss reporting cultures can also prove fruitful, to establish whether seafarers are creating unnecessary reports or feel overly discouraged from critical reporting.
In support, NorthStandard’s enhanced pre-employment medical examination (PEME) helps uphold the crew health, wellbeing and fitness for duty that underpin best practice, while demonstrably reducing preventable illness claims. Its Loss Prevention services include a free and confidential Safety Culture Organisational Assessment (SCORA) to help Members evaluate their safety capacity.
Service delivery is also sensitive to the location of its Members and the vessels they own and/or operate. In the Middle East, India and Africa (MEIA), as elsewhere, Members are supported through published guidance, but also by its regional team. The Club’s MEIA membership represents approximately 10% of its gross mutual tonnage. To support this considerable market, the local team comprises over 30 members of staff including nine underwriting staff, eight lawyers, four mariners and Loss Prevention executives.
Current areas of focus in the region include container fires, electric vehicles, mooring, ‘CAN test’ training to identify liquefaction, and navigation issues arising from interactions between pilots and bridge teams.
In November 2025, NorthStandard presented a comprehensive “Safety Management 2.0” workshop in Dubai, attracting Members from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, addressing topics of special concern to its MEIA Members.
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