2026 in maritime optimisation and communications: key digitalisation technologies to transform shipping

2026 in maritime optimisation and communications: key digitalisation technologies to transform shipping
Martyn Wingrove 31 Dec 2025 https://www.rivieramm.com/opinion/2026-in-maritime-optimisation-amp-comm...

Digitalisation and advanced communications technologies and trends will influence the maritime world in 2026

Major technological advances this decade are shaping the long-term future of the maritime industry, as reported on in depth by Maritime Optimisation & Communications.

While the shipping industry is grappling with the eventual transition to green fuels and decarbonising operations, it is turning to digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and low-latency connectivity for vessel optimisation answers now.

In the longer term, there are trends towards reducing manning on ships, providing faster and almost unlimited connectivity to seafarers left on vessels and using quantum computing algorithms in all aspects of ship optimisation and port management. With this in mind, here are five technology trends for 2026 and beyond.

Competition for global LEO communications

Watch out Elon Musk, here comes Jeff Bezos. A battle for maritime satellite communications supremacy is coming among providers of high-speed, low-latency connectivity.

Mr Musk’s SpaceX Starlink has taken the market by storm, becoming a primary communications service to vessels worldwide through its low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, but it is not the only constellation available, and more are coming.

Starlink is competing with existing very small aperture terminal (VSAT) Ku-band services and Inmarsat Maritime’s NexusWave that incorporates Global Xpress Ka-band communications and Eutelsat OneWeb LEO constellation.

New VSAT satellites and services from traditional providers will be launched to take back some of the market share lost to Starlink.

LEO services are being introduced by Mr Bezos’ Amazon and Canada’s Telesat. Redmond, Washington- headquartered Amazon LEO (formerly Kuiper) will have around 3,000 satellites orbiting between 590 km and 630 km over the seas providing fast internet, video calls, gaming and high-definition streaming services.

Amazon builds its own satellites in Kirkland, Washington, and processes them at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, before they are launched by Arianespace, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and ULA. The LEO Ultra service will use an enterprise-grade antenna to deliver downlink speeds up to 1 gigabit per second and uplink speeds up to 400 Mbps, with the service rolled out in 2026 as Amazon launches more satellites and adds coverage and capacity to the network.

Telesat expects its Lightspeed LEO services and Farcast flat-panel antennas to be available in 2027 for commercial use, bringing another competitor to Starlink.

Quantum computing

Computer processing has accelerated this decade, resulting in AI being used by the maritime industry to analyse silos of data and generate actionable insights. But what is next? Some research institutions think it is quantum computing, to process multiple datasets simultaneously providing huge benefits to industry.

Fraunhofer’s Center for Maritime Logistics and Services (CML) is developing applications in the maritime sector to use quantum computing to improve operations, efficiency, reliability and lower the environmental footprint.

It has partnered with the Port of Hamburg and German vessel owner Fairplay Towage to improve the scheduling of tugs and other marine services. Quantum computing is used to generate realistic models and algorithms provide insights for optimising scheduling and services to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and port delays.

CML will divide key problems that occur into sub-problems, some of which are solved with classic algorithms and others with quantum-computing algorithms. This technology can be applied to real-world port logistics challenges.

S-100 for ECDIS 2.0

Just like Nintendo Switch 2, the maritime industry is developing a new version of a well-used electronic device on the bridge. For the past decade and a half, seafarers have become familiar with ECDIS for safer ship navigation using electronic data instead of charts.

Over the next few years, new versions of these electronic chart display and information systems will become available for retrofits, upgrades and newbuilds, and if the manufacturers get their way, these will become mandatory carriage requirements under IMO.

ECDIS is already mandatory under IMO regulations for fleets of ships and is increasingly installed on workboats, providing mariners with accurate voyage plans and positioning information. They use electronic navigational charts (ENCs) created using the S-57 data format by hydrographic offices and have been updated and improved over the years.

But the S-100 suite of data is being developed and tested for a new generation of ECDIS that will be much more immersive. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is co-ordinating testing S-100 in ECDIS, promising greater data definition and visibility of seabed structures and sea conditions.

In 2026, the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and French Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service will undertake sea trials of six interoperable S-100 data layers –S-101 for ENCs, bathymetric surface (S-102), water levels (S-104), surface currents (S-111), navigational warnings (S-124) and a catalogue of nautical products (S-128) – across multiple ECDIS units in live navigation scenarios.  

A timeline for development will see S-100 layers further tested in 2026 by other hydrographic offices and ECDIS manufacturers, with commercial products becoming available in 2027-28, followed by IMO considerations and updates to ECDIS performance standards possibly as early as 2029.

But the biggest question is whether the shipping industry will really benefit from ECDIS 2.0, or is S-100 more for niche applications in defence, passenger shipping and maritime pilotage?

Remote control and autonomous ships

AI is enabling autonomous navigation through hazard detection and avoidance, preventing collisions, using ECDIS for voyage information, and the automatic identification system (AIS) to identify vessels to avoid.

Sensor fusion involving radar, lidar, camera streams and enhanced visuals has resulted in digital watchkeepers being installed on fleets of ships to enhance situational awareness for bridge teams.

Industry innovators have taken all these technologies further to introduce the first remotely operated and autonomous vessels (USVs). The first remote operations centres are demonstrating the benefits of commanding vessels in more applications and beyond the horzon.

Norway has multiple unmanned vessels transporting cargo, vehicles and passengers on shortsea routes. Offshore vessel owners are building, testing and commercialising unmanned assets for seabed surveys and deploying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for subsea inspections.

Reach Subsea gained approval to deploy its first Reach Remote uncrewed ROV deployment vessel without supervision from a manned ship in Norway in Q4 2025. Its second started testing in Australia and two more have been ordered.

Fugro is also well-advanced in deploying USVs for offshore surveys, and other owners have ordered remotely operated vessels.

2026 will be the year the adoption of remotely piloted USVs accelerates. It will not take many more years before an uncrewed merchant ship completes its first trans-oceanic voyage.

Ports test 6G communications

Communications in ports need to be fast, reliable and available everywhere without black spots or coverage gaps. With greater levels of automation and remotely controlled equipment, and rising demand from ships docking in these logistic hubs, comes the need for more bandwidth and availability at lower costs.

Port have installed 4G, long-term evolution and 5G mobile phone networks to provide this ubiquitous available coverage and low-cost connectivity, but as demand rises, constraints become more evident.

Having overlapping wide area networks of communications enables more users to connect and minimises issues when connectivity is critical, for example in remotely controlling terminal machinery and harbour craft.

In the UK, the Port of Tyne has started testing 6G with BT as it strives to become a connectivity hub.

Other telecommunications companies and research institutes in Europe, China, Japan and the US are trialling higher frequency bands, such as 6 GHz, to understand how they can improve mobile data throughput, uplink speeds and overall network capacity.

Ports around the world, such as in Singapore, are trialling 6G to become their own communication hubs, and connectivity experts expect the commercial rollout of 6G from around 2030.