NAVTOR has expanded its e-navigation platform to about 18,000 vessels after completing the migration of Voyager Worldwide customers to its technology last summer, according to NAVTOR.
The migration followed NAVTOR’s 2023 acquisition of Voyager’s chart business, a deal that absorbed one of its largest competitors and gave the Norwegian group the largest global share in electronic chart distribution.
NAVTOR is now using the enlarged chart base to build a broader vessel software platform, adding services for emissions regulation, digital logbooks and tighter links between shipboard systems and shore-based operations.
COO Børge Hetland said NAVTOR’s goal is to keep ships operating “safely, efficiently, and in compliance with regulations” while reducing crew workload and operational disruption. He said improved satellite connectivity, including Starlink and other providers, has made near real-time monitoring of onboard conditions from shore offices possible.
Japan is a key market for the next stage of growth. NAVTOR opened its Japan office in 2015 and now has more than 2,000 Japanese-related vessels using its solutions.
Hetland said Japan is the world’s third-largest shipowning nation by deadweight tonnage. The company is also working with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines on electronic logbooks. The project aims to move records from handwriting to electronic input, reduce required data fields and allow sensor data to feed automatically into logbooks through NAVBOX.
NAVTOR said its logbook has approvals from major flag states and classification societies, and received Japanese flag approval last year.
The group employs about 450 people, including around 170 in development, with main development centres in Norway, Gdansk and Aberdeen, as well as developers in India and Sri Lanka.
NAVTOR is training an AI chatbot called “AI Captain” for customer support and is working with six Norwegian partners on GASS, Green AI for Sustainable Shipping, a project using AI and digital twins to forecast fuel consumption, detect anomalies and recommend routes and operating strategies.
NAVTOR is a Norway-based digital maritime services provider founded in 2011, with activities in e-navigation software, electronic chart services and integrated vessel platforms.
NAVTOR Japan is the group’s Japanese operation. Voyager Worldwide is the former chart business acquired by NAVTOR in 2023.