Evaluation and Prioritization of AI Technology for Improving Worker Safety, Port Operations, and Vessel Traffic

The opportunity

The U.S. Center for Maritime Innovation (USCMI) is building collaborative teams in a forthcoming series of projects related to the application of artificial intelligence to maritime safety and operations. This project focuses on evaluation and prioritization of AI technology for improving worker safety, port operations and vessel traffic. The work includes background research, identification of relevant AI technologies and operational use cases, collection and comparison of information on technical capabilities, maturity, required data, implementation conditions and observed benefits, assessment of risks and governance considerations, prioritization of candidate pilots, and preparation of a final report with recommendations.

This invitation seeks submissions from stakeholders in specific analytic and stakeholder feedback roles, including but not limited to port authorities, vessel traffic stakeholders, maritime operators, safety professionals, labor representatives and technology providers. USCMI will execute this project as Secretariat Managed, and the Secretariat will select and engage multiple organizations to execute the defined Scope of Work as a collective group. At least one facilitated, interactive stakeholder engagement will review the assembled research, and results will be summarized in a public report.

This is a funded project, and participants may receive funding based on role and level of effort. The project budget includes up to $150K for analysis support. USCMI funding is prioritized for domestic entities as recipients or subrecipients.

The USCMI will respect all project team members’ intellectual property rights in compliance with applicable federal law and the project agreements governing the scope of work.

Why it matters

The USCMI is focused on enhancing U.S. maritime competitiveness, technologies for improving maritime operations, addressing technology and energy needs for powering the maritime transportation system (MTS), and practical approaches for ensuring maritime resilience. To sustain competitiveness, U.S. ports and shipyards are assessing digitalization options, driven by the need for improved safety, higher throughput and lower environmental impact. Artificial intelligence is already being used across the maritime domain to improve safety from shipboard operations to ports, shipyards and offshore facilities, and leveraging the lessons learned and growing capability of these technologies across the U.S. maritime industry provides opportunities to improve worker and operational safety.

Port and vessel operational environments expose personnel to significant safety and operational risks. This project aims to identify and align risk-reduction and safety-improving technologies with worker safety in port environments, including reduced collisions, groundings and allisions in harbor approaches and coastal routes; earlier detection of unsafe, non-compliant or suspicious behaviors; improved workload management for vessel traffic service (VTS) operators, reducing cognitive overload and missed cues; and better strategic planning of traffic measures based on actual risk patterns.

Participant roles

Evaluation criteria

Participants are evaluated against the following criteria:

• Compliance with the eligibility requirements. USCMI funding is prioritized for domestic entities as recipients or subrecipients. Eligible applicants include small businesses, for-profit organizations other than small businesses, private institutions of higher education, public and state institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations.
• Relevance of the applicant’s background, experience or proposed contribution to the objectives of the project.
• Demonstrated capacity to participate fully in the planned project activities within the project schedule and available funding.
• Potential of the applicant to support successful project delivery and intended outcomes.