| 🚢 TwinShip: Building Trust, Safety & Intelligence into the Digital Future of Shipping As shipping moves toward Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, advanced automation and alternative fuels, one question becomes increasingly important: 👉 How can we innovate while keeping safety, trust and human understanding at the centre? In a recent TwinShip interview, Dr. Demetres Armanes, Ph.D from American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) discussed how classification societies can support the maritime sector’s digital transformation — from defining requirements and validating new technologies to ensuring that innovation remains practical, reliable and safe throughout a vessel’s lifecycle. 🔹 Digital Twins for smarter decisions Digital twins can provide a virtual reference of a vessel or onboard system, allowing operators to compare actual performance with expected behaviour, identify degradation and support maintenance and operational optimisation. 🔹 Trust depends on uncertainty A digital model does not need to be perfect — but users need to understand its limitations and how uncertainty can influence the decision being made. The acceptable level of uncertainty depends on the operational risk and the purpose of the model. 🔹 AI must operate within a safe envelope AI and advanced automation may bring major opportunities for optimisation, but they should operate within clearly defined and independently protected safety boundaries. ⚠️ “You cannot cross these safety lines.” 🔹 Human understanding remains essential As vessels become more automated, crews will need new knowledge, training and confidence in increasingly intelligent systems. 💡 A powerful message from the interview: 👉 “With understanding comes acceptance.” |
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Knowing how systems work, how they may fail and how to respond can significantly reduce uncertainty and build trust among seafarers. 🔹 Supporting the green transition 🌱 Smarter and more connected systems can support multi-objective decision-making, including operational efficiency, just-in-time arrival and the transition towards alternative fuels. 🔹 Breaking down onboard data silos 🔗 The interview also highlighted a fundamental challenge: even modern vessels may still have isolated data systems. Future ships need to be designed with stronger digital connectivity and data infrastructure from the beginning. 🤝 TwinShip brings together shipowners, technology providers, researchers, software developers and classification experts to ensure that digital innovation is not only advanced — but also trustworthy, validated and ready for real maritime operations. 🚢 Innovation needs freedom to develop — but safety must remain the foundation. |