Two shipping subsidiaries of Andreas Sohmen-Pao, Hafnia and BW LPG, are lead investors in the latest $6m round of investment into Alpha ORI Technologies (AOT), an artificial intelligence smart shipping platform created by Rajesh Unni, the founder of Singapore-based shipmanager Synergy Group, BW Maritime and Nissen Kaiun.
Mikael Skov, CEO of Hafnia, will join the AOT board of directors following this round of investment.
With a diverse range that includes SMARTShip, SMARTVoyager, ShipPalm and VIO, AOT has set out to replace disjointed analogue systems with smart digital enterprises.
Anders Onarheim, CEO of BW LPG, said: “BW LPG is pleased to be among the earliest adopters of SMARTShip technology in our journey to digitalise our fleet. Over the years with Alpha Ori as our partner we benefit from improved fleet management as we build real-time, transparent and reliable ship-to-shore connections. We look forward to continued growth with Alpha Ori as we progress our digital transformation journey.”
More than 100 ships now boast AOT technology onboard around the world.
Mikael Skov, CEO of Hafnia, commented that woking with AOT had empowered his company to make decisions based on real-time and accurate data analytics.
Rajesh Unni, founder and co-CEO of AOT, said: “Challenging the status quo and creating opportunities that have the power to transform the maritime industry by embracing new technologies have been the defining objectives of Alpha Ori. We are thrilled with the support of our investors who bring in their capital, knowledge and network to further our vision.”
