Three takeaways on AI from Marine Money London

At the Marine Money London Ship Finance Forum 2026, a panel titled “Technology and AI: A Driver to Move Shipping Forward” brought together shipowners, operators, and technology providers to examine how artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape shipping in practical terms.

Moderated by Rogerio Alves of the London Maritime Academy and hosted at JW Marriott Grosvenor House, Park Lane the discussion featured perspectives from Lise Duetoft of Hoegh Autoliners, Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos of DeepSea Technologies, Aviv Matya of Thetis AI, and Stylianos Papageorgiou, Managing Director of lomarlabs. Rather than cataloguing tools or forecasting distant futures, the conversation focused on what AI already enables—and what it will quietly change next.

Stylianos’ contribution centred on three ideas that frame AI’s real significance for shipping.

1. AI enables the transfer of hard-earned skills

One of the most immediate impacts of AI in shipping is its ability to transfer time-earned skills from highly experienced professionals to a wider workforce.

Shipping depends on judgement built over decades—often tacit, contextual, and difficult to scale. AI changes that dynamic by capturing patterns and signals from experienced practitioners and making that expertise usable by others who have not had the same time to accumulate it.

Stylianos illustrated this through lomarlabs’ collaboration with Signal Fusion, which uses AI-powered, short voice check-ins with seafarers to detect subtle behavioural cues—such as fatigue, communication breakdowns, or friction—that can signal operational risk. Voice offers a simple, non-invasive way to capture objective indicators of cognitive and emotional state, helping teams spot early warning signs, support more ships without adding headcount, and enable more human, empathetic follow-ups across the fleet.