Weathernews Inc. launched A smartphone application for SeaNavigator, an AI-powered marine weather service, enabling faster vessel status monitoring and simpler navigational decisions.
The application provides instant notifications to dispatchers (operators ashore) regarding navigation issues and route changes, eliminating the delay inherent in traditional email communications. In addition to automatically detecting and notifying users of reduced vessel speed and drift based on AIS (Automatic Identification System) data, the app also features a workflow that enables dispatchers to review and approve course and speed recommendations from Weathernews directly from a smartphone. Notifications urge shoreside operators to immediately check high-resolution wind and wave forecasts and vessel data on their smartphones.
In pre-launch trials, the process of proposing a change of course and issuing instructions to the ship (which previously took 24 hours on average) was reduced to approximately 6 hours, demonstrating a significant improvement in response time. Ground operators can also choose to receive push notifications only that are relevant to them, allowing them to stay informed of critical risks immediately even when they are away from their desks. Furthermore, the status of flight plan changes is automatically synced in real-time with the desktop version of the service, ensuring the entire team maintains an accurate and up-to-date picture of the situation.
Weathernews will continue to expand the functionality of the application to provide powerful support for fast and reliable mobile decision-making not only to shore operators of shipping companies, but also to employees in various departments such as ship chartering, sales, environmental management and corporate planning, thus contributing to increased operational efficiency across shipping companies and helping to establish a framework for safe ship dispatching.
Timely awareness of navigation issues and faster course changes in extreme weather conditions
In recent years, the shipping industry has seen strong demand for front-line-focused digital transformation with the goal of reducing the burden on crews and operators ashore while enhancing safety and operational efficiency. Weathernews has supported shipping operators with SeaNavigator, an AI-powered marine weather service, and developed this mobile application after identifying opportunities to speed up dispatches and improve the speed of detecting navigation issues.
Previously, ship condition monitoring relied primarily on email reports from ships and on monitoring the SeaNavigator screen at a fixed workstation, making it difficult to get an immediate understanding of sudden changes in speed caused by severe weather when away from the office. The back and forth of emails and the effort required for manual confirmations in traditional email-based workflows also caused significant delays in issuing instructions to ships. Eliminating these inefficiencies and delays at the source and enabling timely decision-making requires a radically different approach, Weathernews concluded.
A mobile app developed for the AI-powered marine weather service SeaNavigator
The app’s main strengths are its ability to quickly detect navigation issues and speed up dispatch workflow with real-time alerts. The customization feature also allows operators to choose only the push notifications they need, ensuring that critical risks are never missed while keeping daily operations free of unnecessary interruptions.
Future development plans include expanding the app’s push notification capabilities with features such as automatic transmission of approved plans to vessels and course deviation alerts, as well as a dial feature that will allow operators to send changes to destinations, vessel speed and estimated time of arrival directly from the app.
1. Automatic navigation problem detection from AIS: Push notification alerts to reduce speeding and drifting
The application is equipped with an alert feature that constantly analyzes AIS (Automatic Identification System) data and sends push notifications when abnormal vessel behavior is detected. The application automatically detects a sudden drop in speed or drift (when the ship comes to a complete stop) outside port areas where a slowdown is expected, and immediately notifies shore-side operators.
A “deceleration” notification for speed reductions is triggered when the vessel’s cumulative deceleration exceeds the minimum specified for the vessel type. A “drift” notification is sent when the vessel speed remains below 0.5 knots for two or more consecutive hours.
2. Faster workflow for changing trip plans with instant notifications for faster decision making
The app’s push notification feature instantly provides trip plan changes and other updates to shore operators. They can review the recommended route along with estimated time of arrival (ETA), ship speed, and expected fuel consumption on their smartphone and simply click the “Agree” button to confirm the recommendation, significantly reducing the time required to manage the voyage plan.
In the past, changing flight plans involved a slow, email-based process that resulted in significant delays in decision making. The traditional workflow proceeds as follows: (1) Weathernews detects weather changes along the route and emails a proposed plan change to the ground operator; (2) ground operator responds via email to approve the change; and (3) weather news that reflects the approved plan in SeaNavigator and notifies the Captain via email.
This application eliminates the inefficiencies and delays caused by email-based confirmations, enabling timely decision making. During pre-launch trials, the average time from Weathernews’ initial course change suggestion to sending the final flight plan to the ship was reduced from approximately 24 hours to approximately 6 hours, with the fastest case recorded completing in less than 23 minutes.
Incoming notifications can also be displayed as a list, with color-coded badges by status so ground operators can see at a glance which items require attention. To ensure you never miss important approval items even on the busiest days, the app also includes a reminder feature that automatically resends notifications when no action is taken within a specified period, preventing important notifications from being missed, as can easily happen with traditional email.
3. Access the latest high-resolution wind and wave forecasts with global accuracy
The app provides high-resolution weather and marine data – including wind direction and speed, wave height and duration, ocean currents, and hurricane track forecasts – for any location around the world. Operators can overlay this data, displayed on a 0.125 degree grid, with the positions of vessels under their responsibility, allowing them to assess severe weather risks at a glance.
The service’s forecasts are powered by Weathernews’ proprietary Global Weather and Surf Forecasting System, which provides world-class forecast accuracy with high accuracy. Forecasts are generated by combining more than 80 forecast scenarios derived from ensemble forecasts produced by major meteorological agencies around the world with weather satellite data and Weathernews’ extensive ship monitoring network.
4. Stronger team coordination through seamless integration between the SeaNavigator desktop site and mobile app
Working alongside the SeaNavigator desktop platform already used by many shipping companies, the app allows users to receive push notifications on their smartphones before switching to their computers to review detailed flight and weather information.
Furthermore, instead of displaying all vessels associated with an account, the app features a “Vessel Groups” function, which allows operators to filter their view to only show vessels under their responsibility. Operators can exclusively monitor the current position and status of only selected vessels, enabling more efficient responses to confirmations and risk management tasks without the distraction of unnecessary information or notifications.
Reference: SeaNavigator – AI-powered marine weather service
SeaNavigator is an integrated, AI-powered marine weather service that supports safer, greener and more economical ship operations across all ship sizes. The service includes AI Weather Insight, which automatically generates weather and marine analyzes covering all ocean regions up to five days in advance and instantly identifies vessels affected by deteriorating weather conditions, as well as AI Agent, which allows users to query vessel performance, fuel data and more at any time. The service allows users to determine optimal routes, visualize CO2 emissions, and mitigate grounding risks – all within one platform.
In December 2025, Weathernews also released SeaNavigator for Master, a marine weather service specifically designed for onboard use that supports captains’ operational decision-making through artificial intelligence. With AI Agent, captains can instantly get information about weather risks and the rationale behind recommended routes through a conversational chat interface, just like consulting a professional directly. Designed to overcome the communication challenges inherent in operations at sea, this service provides captains with access to the latest high-resolution wind and wave forecasts covering all ocean regions, along with a simulation function that automatically calculates optimal routes and a chat tool for ship-to-shore communication, providing powerful support for reliable decision-making at sea.
Leveraging more than 40 years of marine weather experience and its expertise in supporting more than one million voyages, Weathernews will continue to drive digital transformation in shipping by making the most of artificial intelligence and mobile technology.
Source: Weather News
