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2nd People Tech Maritime Bergen
Oct 22, 2026, Scandic Hotel
Developing maritime competency in LLMs
Improving vessel performance data quality and use
improving shipboard software quality and communications
Gold sponsor
Coffee sponsor
Lunch sponsor
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS AND DISCUSSION MODERATORS
Alena Pedersen, VP Corporate IT, Odfjell
Martin Hjelle, Founder VoyCalc, former CDO at Western Bulk
Carlos Gonzales, Research and Technology Manager, INTERTANKO
Lars Vaagen Solbakken, Managing Partner at Vaag & Venner, Advisor to Globetech BoD
Gunnar Prytz, Chief Technology Officer, Miros
Antorweep Chakravorty, Ph.D., Professor, University of Stavanger
Speaker from G2 Ocean
The future maritime company will make great use of advanced techniques like language models, will have great vessel performance, and will combine the strengths of people and machine.
We'll learn more about what that looks like at People Tech Maritime Bergen.
We'll also look at ways to improve the maturity of our maritime technology implementations, particularly onboard ships, and latest developments in how to maintain cybersecurity.
All of our discussions will have a strong people theme - how we can make it easier for people to understand, use and benefit from the technologies.
LANGUAGE MODELS
- Better ways to use LLMs in chartering, including pre-fix, fix, working with data, process automation
- What shipping company professionals ought to know about language models - and what is working so far
- Understanding how agentic systems can work in maritime to connect fragmented and non-standardised data, supporting multiple systems to work in co-ordination towards a goal
VESSEL PERFORMANCE
- Overcoming challenges integrating vessel performance data - lack of standardisation, data silos, and limited interoperability
- The reporting burden - common requirement to submit similar data into different platforms
- Working with weather data, including wave and speed through water, to improve vessel performance assessments and decisions
- Making it easier to get vessel performance data which can be used to support decision making
- Supporting crew engagement in vessel performance
IMPROVING ONBOARD SOFTWARE AND CYBERSECURITY
- Getting better software installed onboard vessels
- Should we have vessels accessing cloud software including LLMs?
- Can we improve satellite connectivity robustness to make this more possible?
- Might we see vessel IT systems managed remotely?
IMPROVING CYBERSECURITY
- How is the cybersecurity risk to shipping evolving?
- Are there better ways to identify and manage risks?
- Should more use be made of automated cybersecurity tools?
AGENDA OUTLINE
08:00 Registration and welcome coffee
09:30 Session - developing maritime LLM competency:
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Is there a gap between what LLMs are able to achieve from shipping and what we are currently doing with them - and if so how do we cross it?
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What should shipping company IT managers and other maritime professionals know about LLMs, to achieve competency levels of awareness, tool selection, integration and leadership?
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What is working so far with maritime LLMs? - where might the industry ultimately get to in its use of LLMs?
Chair: Alena Pedersen, VP Corporate IT, Odfjell
10:10 How to use large language models in chartering
Martin Hjelle, Founder at VoyCalc, former CDO at Western Bulk
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How LLMs can help charterers in vessel pre-fix stage
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How LLMs can help charterers fix better, by making it easier to apply data to reduce mistakes
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What a chartering manager's conversation with Claude might look like - and what the job of a charterer might look like in a future
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Experiences working at Western Bulk
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How LLMs can enable better use of data and better process automation
10:30 Using agentic systems in maritime to connect fragmented data
Antorweep Chakravorty, Ph.D., Professor, University of Stavanger
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How agentic systems work, with multiple systems working in co-ordination towards a goal
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How that can help tackle Maritime's data challenge of fragmented, non-standardised data, and how to get there
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Practical, hype free picture of how the agentic AI landscape stands today
11:00 Coffee break sponsored by
11:30 Challenges with integrating vessel performance data
Carlos Gonzales, Research and Technology Manager, INTERTANKO
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Lack of data standardisation, data silos, and limited interoperability
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Reporting burden of submitting similar data into different platforms
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INTERTANKO's work to achieve standardised data exchange with GHG benchmarking tool and more
11:50 How accurate weather data can help improve vessel performance
Gunnar Prytz, Chief Technology Officer, Miros
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How performance assessments can be improved with accurate wave and speed through water data
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Using improved performance assessments to make better decisions about maintenance, coatings, energy saving devices
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Manage performance based contracts with greater confidence
12:10 Session - improving vessel performance data quality and use
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Are there easier ways shipping companies can get robust data about ship performance, which can be used as a basis for decision making, without over-burdening the crew?
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Data collection techniques, sensor data triangulation techniques, data analytics techniques - what are the bottlenecks
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Improving crew engagement through providing better data about their vessel's performance
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Stories about how improved vessel performance data gathering led to improved results
12:50 Lunch
Sponsored by
14:00 Session - improving shipboard software quality and communications
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What factors would help get better quality software installed on shipboard computers?
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Can we move to an era where vessels access cloud software, including LLMs?
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Can we improve satellite connectivity robustness to make this more possible?
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Is there a possible future with vessels using 'virtual machines' all managed remotely?
Chair: Lars Vaagen Solbakken, Managing Partner at Vaag & Venner, Advisor to Globetech BoD
14:20 Session - better ways to maintain cybersecurity
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How is the cybersecurity risk to shipping evolving?
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Are there better ways to identify and manage risks?
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Should more use be made of automated cybersecurity tools?
15:00 Speaker from G2 Ocean
15:30 Close
MOVING FORWARD WITH LLMS / AGENTIC SYSTEMS
New topic for this event - how does the maritime industry move forward with agentic systems and what can it do?
Debates about "what LLMs can do" in maritime often end in a rathole. The answer is something between "an enormous amount" and "not every much at all." They do a lot compared to the technology which went before, but may not deliver any direct value to a shipowner at a noticeable level. The idea of managers having a team of "agents" alongside their team of people is far-fetched.
Yet, if we can describe a specific, narrow task we want done, which does not require much in the way of human judgement or common sense, a small language model (or agent) could be programmed to do it at reasonable expense, and we have complete control over it. This leads to the idea of agent "orchestration", a tool to run all these small language model based tools, which may be a large language model, drawing on its superior ability.
So we could have agents to check vessel performance data, agents to seek to fill in gaps, agents to support vessel performance decision making, which are all separate tools.
Shipping companies can make agents, commercial companies can make agents. Crew could have agents supporting navigation, engine maintenance, submitting performance data, getting answers from manuals and more.
Maritime software companies evolve to become providers of agents. Communications companies provide the data infrastructure. Hardware companies become software companies. Is this where we are going?
OUR 2025 People Tech Maritime Bergen event
Shipping company people attending our November 2025 Bergen event included Bergen Tankers, HSEQ & Vetting Manager; BW LNG, Application Manager; Exmar Shipping, Business Process Manager; Fjord1, Energy and Environmental Manager; Foundation Sailship Statsraad Lehmkuhl, Captain; G2 Ocean, Manager Infrastructure and Support Fleet, Vice President IT, Maritime Systems Manager; Gearbulk Norway AS, Business Analyst; Grieg Star, Project Manager Digital, VP Digital, Principal Engineer; Hansa Tankers, Digital Project Manager, Performance Analyst, Havforskningsinstiuttet, Marine Superintendent, Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi , IT Manager, Mercy Ships, Corporate Relations Officer, Navigator Gas, Head of IT, Norwegian Maritime Authority, Head of New Maritime Technology, Odfjell, VP Corporate IT, Manager Digital Applications, Application Support Consultant, Manager Electro & Automation, Enterprise Architect, OSM Thome, Senior IT Manager, IT Manager, PeakCSL Group, Project Manager Digitalization, Rederiet Stenersen AS, IT & Application Manager, Saga Welco AS, Director Fleet Management & Strategic Planning, SVP Operations; Sea-Cargo, Digital Manager, Software Developer; Seatank Chartering, ICT & Cyber security. Chief Data Officer; Skarv Shipping, Head of Digital and Performance; Spar Shipping AS, S&P and Projects; Stolt Tankers, Product Owner; Utkilen AS, Quality & Sustainability Manager, IT Operations Manager; Utkilen Management, Chief Digitalization Officer; Wilson Management AS, IT Manager
See the report from our Oct 2025 Bergen event here
See agenda, video and slides from our Oct 2025 event here
Speaker enquiries: Vaida Berkecz, event producer - vaida@peopletechmaritime.com
Sponsor enquiries: Karl jeffery, director, People Tech Maritime, jeffery@d-e-j.com
