Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore (BV), a world leader in testing, inspection, and certification (TIC), declared its vision for the future of maritime trade during Singapore Maritime Week, with Executive Vice-President, Industrials & Commodities, Matthieu de Tugny delivering a keynote address detailing how digitalization, artificial intelligence, and the energy transition are fundamentally reshaping shipping and the global value chains it underpins.
During the keynote address, de Tugny outlined that the industry’s trajectory will be shaped by three intersecting forces: decarbonization, digitalization, and industry resilience. He stressed that the sector is moving beyond fragmented, vessel-level optimization towards more sophisticated inter-connected intelligence across the entire value chain, a shift that demands multi-sector collaboration.
Regarding artificial intelligence, de Tugny highlighted that AI is already generating tangible results across vessel operations, engineering, ports, and supply chains. The integration of sophisticated smart systems is supporting voyage optimization, predictive maintenance, digital twins, routing efficiency, and smarter logistics, delivering real-world gains today.
However, de Tugny also cautioned that AI’s potential can only be realized when underpinned by reliable, structured, and trusted data. Critically, he emphasized that human expertise remains central to the industry’s future, with AI serving to augment decision-making rather than replace the professionals who drive it.
De Tugny also highlighted BV’s capabilities in this area, having developed a suite of advanced solutions designed to help clients as they navigate this transformation:
- Digital Class: Integrates design, construction, and operational data to enable continuous, real-time assurance in place of periodic inspections, giving operators and owners a live view of vessel condition and compliance.
- Augmented Surveyor 3D: Combines drone-based inspections, AI-supported defect detection, and digital 3D asset models to improve the speed, accuracy, and safety of survey operations.
- SmartShip Framework: Supports clients along a progressive journey from connected vessels to autonomous functions and fully integrated maritime ecosystems, managing both the technical and regulatory dimensions of the transition.
De Tugny also addressed the global energy transition, calling for ambitious long-term planning alongside pragmatic near-term action. While next-generation fuels – including LNG, methanol, and ammonia – alongside new infrastructure and financing models are essential to achieving net-zero targets, de Tugny emphasized that existing fleets can already reduce their emissions footprint today through digital optimization, energy-saving technologies, and improved operational performance.
