Zelim took part in numerous maritime and offshore trade shows and search and rescue technology showcase events during the first half of 2024, several of which were ‘across the pond’ in the USA and Canada. With their extensive coastlines and booming maritime and offshore industries, we are seeing significant interest in our unmanned search and rescue solutions from these countries.
Inroads to the cruise sector – Miami
Kicking off in style in April, we exhibited at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami for the first time, demonstrating how our AI-enabled person overboard technology, ZOE, can support the safety and security of cruise ships and ports with its intelligent detection, tracking and alerting capabilities. We generated a lot of interest from leading cruise brands and also caught up with our friends in the US Coastguard, whom we collaborated with to develop this search and rescue technology.
With the current boom in passenger numbers, set to grow from 35 million today to almost 40 million by 2027, there are many new cruise ships in build and on order that could benefit from the added layers of safety that ZOE can provide.
Offshore energy demand – Houston
On the back of the successful rollout of ZOE on the jack-up rig VALARIS Stavanger, we were keen to showcase the technology to other offshore energy operators and decided to exhibit at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston in May. We had great conversations with US operators at the show that were considering ZOE for man overboard detection and alerting as well as other safety and security use cases, to protect both personnel and critical assets.
There is clearly a strong demand for smart technologies and intelligent monitoring from companies in this sector that are keen to retain a leading stance in safety. We have since completed numerous follow up demonstrations as a result of meetings in Houston.
Coastline challenges – Halifax
In June, we attended the H2O Conference and participated in the COVE Demonstration Day in Dartmouth, Halifax, an on-water showcase involving for world-leading marine technology innovators. Here, we ran a practical demonstration on the water, showing the capabilities of AI for search and rescue at sea to the Canadian Coastguard and other maritime safety and security stakeholders. Our CEO, Sam Mayall, also presented on the Innovation Stage during the event, introducing the Zelim eco-system: ZOE, GUARDIAN and SWIFT to delegates.
Zelim’s technology is well positioned to meet the unique challenges faced by Canadian search and rescue organisations due to the size of the country and its coastline. Regional broadcaster CBC Nova Scotia picked up on this and produced a short news clip summarising the potential impact of our technology in speeding up search and rescue missions.
We have exciting plans to return to Canada in the autumn, attending DEFSEC Atlantic in Halifax in early October and subsequently conducting another technology demonstration to a new client. In November, we’ll be heading to New Orleans for the International Workboat Show! If you would like to meet us at a future event, or have a question about Zelim’s search and rescue technology, you can get in touch with using the form below.
