ZeroNorth acquires digital vessel performance pioneers Propulsion Dynamics Inc
Acquisition to boost ZeroNorth revenue by 15% and further power up Optimise with experience from more than 25,000 historical and current vessel fuel consumption models
Maritime technology company ZeroNorth has today announced that it has acquired the Copenhagen-based digital vessel performance company Propulsion Dynamics Inc.
Founded in 2002, Propulsion Dynamics was the first company to offer full-scale digital twin ship performance analysis through its CASPER service. This makes the organisation a forerunner of vessel performance optimisation, and means that it holds unrivalled insight on how vessel hydrodynamics can impact fuel consumption.
The fuel consumption tables provided by Propulsion Dynamics can directly support the industry’s decarbonisation trajectory and support the optimisation of a range of tramp shipping vessels, and particularly those on short-term time charter agreements. By activating Propulsion Dynamics’ vessel models with technology and machine learning, ZeroNorth will be able to considerably scale up CASPER’s potential use cases in the market.
ZeroNorth will remain steadfast to its commitment to be data agnostic, connecting to whichever fuel consumption model provider their customers utilise. However, the acquisition will also allow ZeroNorth to immediately power up Optimise using experience from the more than 25,000 digital ship models that Propulsion Dynamics has gathered across the last two decades. By combining this wellspring of data with ZeroNorth’s AI technology, the software will be able to deliver even more authoritative recommendations to increase revenue and cut emissions for tramp shipping vessels.
The acquisition marks ZeroNorth’s entry into the fuel optimisation market; a significant next step on the organisation’s journey after a year in operation. Having the industry’s most authoritative source of vessel performance information in-house will also enable ZeroNorth to extend its market proposition and offer new products and services. In all, the move – which was signed on 1st June 2021 — will boost ZeroNorth’s revenue by 15%.
Speaking on the announcement, Søren Meyer, CEO, ZeroNorth, said: “We are delighted to welcome Propulsion Dynamics, the original, ground-breaking company for vessel performance optimisation, into the ZeroNorth family. This is a fantastic way to mark ZeroNorth’s first year as an independent company.
“Propulsion Dynamics’ huge, unrivalled library of vessel performance analysis results means that Optimise will evolve into an even more powerful and authoritative tool to help tramp shipping companies increase their revenue and cut emissions. Meanwhile, we are very much looking forward to working with the team at Propulsion Dynamics to support them to rapidly scale their solutions and customer base with our complimentary technological expertise.”
Daniel Kane, Co-Owner and VP Sales, Propulsion Dynamics, said: “The team at Propulsion Dynamics was quite intrigued when we were originally approached by a nearby Danish maritime technology company who had novel ideas about how to utilise our performance analysis capabilities and experience to enable carbon reduction for oceangoing vessels.
This grew into a formal partnership, increasing enrollment of vessels with ZeroNorth, and a natural progression into a sale of PDI to ZeroNorth. We know that their unique background, skillset, and rapid success in the market, combined with our digital twin hydrodynamic modeling approach, will definitively and quickly make a positive impact on shipping’s decarbonisation pathway.”