Eastern Pacific Expands Orca AI Rollout After 130,000-Mile Trial
The five-ship pilot cut close-encounter events by 48 percent per 1,000 nautical miles
Singapore-based shipowner Eastern Pacific Shipping will install Orca AI's navigation platform on dozens of additional vessels after a five-ship trial covering more than 130,000 nautical miles.
The pilot recorded a 48 percent reduction in close-encounter events per 1,000 nautical miles and a 10 percent increase in the average minimum passing distance between vessels. One ship, the Pacific Sentinel, recorded an 84 percent reduction in open-water close encounters and a 50 percent increase in minimum passing distance within six months of installation.
"Our seafarers are at the centre of everything we do," said Eastern Pacific technical director Sachin Saharawat. He said the pilot gave the company objective data on changes in navigational risk and supported the decision to broaden deployment across the fleet.
Orca AI chief executive and co-founder Yarden Gross said AI-based situational awareness could "reinforce good seamanship" while reducing higher-risk situations onboard and ashore.
The platform combines onboard computer vision with shore-based analysis. Its SeaPod unit detects and classifies vessels and other objects, including targets that may not appear on AIS, while the FleetView component gives shore teams access to navigational data for incident reviews, trend analysis and crew training. The ability to see targets absent from AIS is the operational distinction from conventional bridge systems, which depend on cooperative transmission.
Orca AI did not disclose the exact number of additional vessels, the contract value or a timetable for completing the rollout.
Eastern Pacific is controlled by Israeli businessman Idan Ofer and operates a fleet totalling more than 31m dwt across four shipping segments. Its newbuilding orderbook exceeded 150 vessels in June 2026.
Orca AI is an Israeli maritime technology company headquartered in London. Founded in 2018 by Gross and Dor Raviv, it raised $72.5m in a Series B round in May 2025, taking total funding to $111m. By the end of 2025 around 1,000 vessels had been fitted with its technology.
