Maritime Data as an Environmental Compass

By Colomban Monnier - President of the Governing Board of the ENSM Foundation

The ecological transition of the maritime sector is also a technological transition. With the growing stack of regulations, data has shifted from being secondary information to becoming a strategic asset. Mastering this data is now the most powerful lever to directly influence the maritime industry’s strategy and its impact-reduction trajectory.

The days of the approximate Noon Report sent by email are over. Today, every drop of fuel and every nautical mile must be justified, certified, and optimized. Data has become proof of compliance.

From Analysis to Action

This digitalization is creating exciting new professions at the crossroads between sea and shore. The Fleet Performance Manager has become a key profile. Their role? To analyze data flows from onboard sensors (torque sensors, flow meters, inertial measurement units) and external databases (weather, traffic density, ocean currents) to advise captains on vessel operations and technical directors on maintaining ships in operational condition.

This profession requires a dual skill set: understanding the physical reality of a vessel while mastering data analytics tools. For an officer seeking a shore-based career, or for a maritime engineer, it is a prime pathway. These professionals are among the first to use artificial intelligence extensively in daily maritime operations.

AI Serving Human Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into this equation, particularly for weather routing and predictive maintenance. But AI is not magic, it requires clean, structured data rather than massive volumes of poor-quality inputs.

There is a major integrity issue at stake. The OECD has warned about the “Dark Ocean Economy” and the manipulation of AIS data. Future industry leaders will need to act as guardians of data ethics. Knowing how to audit an algorithm, verify the consistency of fuel consumption data, and detect anomalies will be essential digital compliance skills to protect shipowners’ reputation, insurability, and access to financing.

Digital Sobriety

This digitalization must remain thoughtful. The goal is not to connect for the sake of connecting. First, because multiplying connections increases cybersecurity risks; second, because every data capture and processing operation consumes valuable energy. Young engineers have a role to play in designing digital architectures that are efficient, robust, and purposeful.

The objective is not to overwhelm captains and Performance Managers with dashboards, but to provide the right information at the right time to support decisions that save decisive tons of CO₂. It is a mission where scientific rigor and seamanship must meet to build a sustainable future.

1- International regulations such as CII, EEXI, EEDI, as well as regional frameworks like the EU ETS and FuelEU.

2- The Noon Report is the traditional spreadsheet- or text-based report completed and sent daily at noon by a vessel to its shipowner or charterer. The data it contains is static, low in granularity, sometimes inaccurate, and often unusable (non-standardized, not database-accessible, etc.).

3- OECD report “The Ocean Economy to 2050.”

4- We refer to XAI, meaning eXplainable Artificial Intelligence.

5- On a new vessel, banks typically finance 50% to 60% of the hull. Roughly one-third of the global fleet is bank-owned, when including vessels acquired through loans that have since been repaid.

6- See the post-web theory by Rafi Haladjian, a pioneer of the French internet and the Internet of Things (IoT).