Smarter routing saves money, emissions – and whales
Nature-integrated routing can deliver climate and biodiversity goals, without sacrificing operational performance. Amy McLellan reports on the latest paper from IMarEST’s Marine Mammal SIG
Shipping is essential to our modern way of life yet it comes with environmental responsibilities, including climate mitigation and protection of marine biodiversity. A new report led by Whale Seeker, True North Marine, and the Marine Mammal Special Interest Group of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology shows that it is possible for shipping to maintain operational performance while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions, underwater radiated noise and collision risk with larger whales.
Nature-integrated routing refers to the incorporation of ecological sensitivity data, speed management principles, and spatial risk modelling into voyage planning. Modern routing algorithms can help ships identify operational adjustments, particularly reducing speed profiles and rerouting in some sensitive areas, in order to reduce their environmental footprint. The model used in the study, Navigating With Nature: How Smarter Ship Routing Delivers Emissions Cuts and Biodiversity Gains, evaluated a 3,148 nautical mile transatlantic voyage between Montréal, Canada, and Le Havre, France of a Panamax class 5,000 TEU container vessel, representative of commercial tonnage operating on North Atlantic routes.
The North Atlantic route simulation suggests that modest speed adjustments can avoid around 198 tonnes of CO₂ per transit, cut exposure to underwater radiated noise by more than 50%, and reduce fatal whale strike risk by up to 86%. Notably, the optimised route also resulted in fuel savings of 61.7 metric tons of fuel, which saved US$19,450 in costs, offsetting the additional 24.9 hours of transit time.
Importantly, the report concludes that nature-integrated routing is a highly scalable, low-cost, and technically mature solution that can be implemented with existing operational capacity, requiring no new vessel hardware or future fuels.
According to Emily Charry Tissier, CEO and Co-Founder of Whale Seeker and a recently appointed Fellow of IMarEST, the exciting shift here isn’t the use of AI but the maritime sector's move to ECDIS (electronic chart display and information system) and the emerging S-100 framework.
“ECDIS gives us a universal, standardized platform already embedded in vessel operations, and S-100 opens the door to layering dynamic environmental data, including cetacean presence, directly into the systems mariners are already using,” she said. “That's what makes smarter routing scalable across fleets rather than a one-off research experiment. AI enhances the detection and prediction side, but the infrastructure unlock is the navigation standard.”
This work is building a framework where measurable reductions in collision risk and underwater radiated noise, demonstrated through real operational data, translate into tangible benefits for operators: insurance premiums, port incentives and ESG reporting value.
“When the math works in favour of better behaviour, you don't need to mandate it,” she said. “There's real momentum building around this approach, and the data we're generating is central to making that case.”
IMarEST’s Niru Dorrian, co-chair of the MMSIG and Ambassador to the UN Ocean Decade, backed this. “This case study is important because it provides clear, evidence-based demonstration that operational changes in shipping, specifically nature-integrated routing and speed optimisation, can deliver simultaneous benefits for climate, biodiversity, and commercial performance,” he said.
The work, which has been presented to policy makers and researchers around the world, is endorsed as a United Nations Ocean Decade Action, reflecting its relevance to global efforts to address the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ocean health.
As a global professional body spanning marine engineering, science, and technology, and being an Implementing Partner of the UN Ocean Decade, IMarEST is well-placed to help promote the adoption of these approaches across the shipping sector.
“This case study demonstrates a tangible, scalable pathway for the maritime sector to contribute to nature-positive outcomes using existing tools and data, and IMarEST is well positioned to help drive that transition at scale,” said Dorrian.
Download the report here.
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Image: Whales in the open ocean. Credit: Shutterstock
