Japanese shipowner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has decided to install cameras and an AI system developed by Israel-based Captain’s Eye in the cargo holds of most of its LNG-fuelled car carriers to provide early fire detection capabilities.
The shipowner says that cameras and AI system will be installed on 10 vessels currently on order and scheduled for delivery from 2024 onwards, with the consideration also to be retrofitting current in-service vessels with the system.
The Captain’s Eye AI system is made so it sends an alert to crewmembers onboard the vessel and to the onshore ship management company when it detects abnormal images captured by the cameras.
MOL informs that its car carriers currently all are equipped with fire alarms (smoke detectors), but the AI-based Captains’s Eye system will enable faster smoke detection and faster response in case of fire.
MOL states that it has conducted demonstration tests in collaboration with Captain’s Eye of the AI system’s smoke detection capabilities, by using cameras in cargo holds aboard the car carrier “ONYX ACE”.
As it is said by the company, during these tests the system’s functionality was improved through multiple tests, and the system has confirmed its effectiveness including the successful detection of small amounts of smoke.
