Q&A: DNV’s Piyush Raj on building AI capabilities for maritime professionals

As interest in artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow across the maritime industry, many organizations are exploring how the technology can be applied in practice. At the same time, questions remain around data quality, workforce readiness, trust and the practical challenges of scaling AI beyond pilot projects.

In this Q&A, Dr. Piyush Raj, Head of Maritime Technology & Innovation, DNV Maritime Advisory, and trainer at DNV Maritime Academy (Singapore), shares his perspectives on the industry’s evolving AI landscape and the skills maritime professionals will need in the years ahead:

MT: AI has become an increasingly common topic across the maritime industry. Based on your interactions with maritime organizations, what are some of the key challenges they face when exploring or applying AI?

From my experience, the challenge when maritime organizations look to implement AI tools is building the foundation for it to produce useful results, rather than the implementation or use of the technology itself. Many organizations have large amounts of data, but struggle with data quality and standardization. On top of that, there are governance, cyber security, and control and assurance issues, both of the data and of the tools and systems themselves. Even when we have something that looks promising, there can be scaling challenges. Moving beyond a proof-of-concept or pilot project to a broader operational or fleet level requires a whole new approach in terms of organizational buy in, process integration, and trust within and beyond the organization itself.

This is because maritime is a safety critical industry and safety is the backbone of how shipping has created the modern global economy. If we lose confidence in the safety of our industry, we’ve lost everything. So, we need to be sure that as AI adoption increases, we have a firm basis for demonstrating that these systems are just as reliable, secure, transparent, and aligned with regulatory expectations as the systems we have today. Equivalent safety levels are a very familiar concept to us in the maritime industry – we have technologies that have been rolled out on that basis and enjoy great trust today. But building that trust is just as important as developing the technology itself.

MT: Singapore has established itself as a hub for maritime innovation and digitalization. How are these developments shaping the skills and capabilities maritime professionals need today?

Singapore has built a reputation for leadership in maritime innovation, especially as relates to digitalization, largely due to the efforts of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and cooperation with both industry and academia. At DNV for example, Singapore is home to our Maritime Decarbonization and Smart Shipping Centre of Excellence where we focus on working with partners to build in these areas, alongside enhancing sustainability and talent development. All these combined have resulted in a lot of expertise developing, as well as the associated rollout and adoption of technologies like predictive maintenance, vessel performance monitoring, decision support systems, smart port operations, the wider use of digital twins, and data-driven optimization, throughout the maritime value chain.

One thing these technologies tend to have in common is that they are data driven, and this has increased expectations that maritime professionals and crew in Singapore should be able to work with data-driven tools as part of their day-to-day responsibilities. Today, the rise of AI adds a new level of expectation, that professionals will need an understanding of AI, process and system automation, and the cybersecurity implications of these tools, and on top of that the ability to critically evaluate digital outputs, so that they can be applied in operational decision-making.

As a result, there is growing interest in training programmes that help maritime professionals build up these skills, and especially their understanding of AI and its practical applications.

MT: What can maritime professionals expect to gain from DNV Maritime Academy’s AI courses?

Our AI courses are designed to help maritime professionals understand where AI can deliver real value in maritime operations today, and where the potential is over the long term. Developed specifically for the industry, the trainings combine AI fundamentals with practical, maritime-specific, use cases that cover everything from operations, maintenance, safety, through to fleet management and decision support.

Beyond the technology itself, participants will gain insights into regulations and governance, cybersecurity, assurance and human factors – all of which are critical considerations in a safety-critical industry like shipping. We also like to think that a key differentiator of our courses is our focus on responsible AI adoption, and this is an area where we as DNV have a particular emphasis on developing recommended practices and guidance on AI-enabled systems and AI assurance.

Most importantly, we hope participants will leave with a practical framework to evaluate AI opportunities, identify high-value use cases, avoid common pitfalls, and be able to make more informed decisions about AI adoption and the ongoing digital transformation of shipping.

Note: Maritime Cluster Fund (MCF) Training Grant is available for eligible participants. Please refer to https://www.mpa.gov.sg/maritime-singapore/what-maritime-singapore-offers/developing-manpower/training@maritimesingapore for information on the MCF Training Grant.

Photo credit: DNV
Published: 1 August, 2026