AI and Digital Twins Transform Tug Operations While Cyber Risk Rises With Growing Connectivity
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Digitalisation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation are reshaping the economics and environmental performance of tug operations, while the same technologies that drive efficiency gains are simultaneously expanding the cyber attack surface of increasingly connected vessels. These were central themes at Riviera's 28th International Tug and Salvage Convention, Exhibition and Awards held in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 19 to 21 May 2026, where presentations from Damen Shipyards, Berg Propulsion, and Cetasol illustrated how the industry is navigating a transition defined by both significant commercial opportunity and new operational risk.
Digital Transformation Across Tug Operations
Digital technologies are enabling data-driven decision-making, remote operations, and predictive maintenance across the tug industry, producing measurable improvements in safety, efficiency, and environmental performance. AI and machine learning are redefining maritime services around ports by optimising propulsion systems, improving fuel consumption, and enabling operators to simulate the consequences of alternative fuel and propulsion choices before committing to capital investment. The proliferation of onboard software, cloud connectivity, and satellite communications is accelerating the pace of this transformation, but it is also introducing new complexity into vessel systems that owners, builders, and designers are only beginning to fully understand.
Cybersecurity as the Central Hidden Challenge
Damen Shipyards team leader for digital integration Pam van Zaanen addressed the tension between visible operational benefits and the hidden challenges that accompany digital integration. She warned that as automation and digital integration advance, the complexity of vessel systems increases, bringing new challenges in cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and operational reliability. Cyber vulnerabilities arise from the growing connectivity of automation, navigation, and power management systems, which are exposed to online threats through satellite communications links, cloud connections, and the use of memory sticks by service engineers performing software and firmware updates. The proliferation of onboard software and data traffic requires new integration and maintenance strategies to ensure safe, secure, and reliable vessel operations in an environment where attack vectors are expanding as fast as the digital capability being adopted.
Berg Propulsion's AI-Driven Propulsion Optimisation
Berg Propulsion has applied AI, machine learning, and computer modelling across two distinct applications in the tug sector. In newbuild design, the Swedish manufacturer uses computational tools including graphical neural networks and advanced algorithms to analyse and optimise propeller geometries, improving fuel efficiency and manoeuvrability outcomes. For lifecycle maintenance, the company has developed digital twins that support the configuration and ongoing performance monitoring of integrated propulsion systems. Berg engineering manager Tobias Huuva has highlighted that the company's data pool, drawn from 5,000 propellers in service on more than 2,000 vessels, provides the empirical foundation for an AI agent based on large language model technology, delivering real-time insights that feed back into daily engineering work and strategic decision-making. The scale of the operational dataset gives Berg's AI tools a significant advantage in identifying performance patterns that smaller datasets would not reveal.
Cetasol's Fleet Analytics and Fuel Savings
Cetasol is providing fuel consumption and emissions reduction capabilities to owners of hundreds of tugboats through digital tools that gather and analyse data from engines and flow meters, delivering insights via cloud computing and AI models. The platform provides tugboat captains and fleet managers with actionable information on engine performance, fuel consumption, trip logs, and voyage data. Cetasol chief executive and founder Ethan Faghani has indicated that the digital analysis enables owners to save up to 20 percent of fuel consumption, a commercially significant figure for operators managing multi-vessel fleets where fuel is typically the largest variable operating cost. The platform also enables simulation of the performance and cost implications of switching to alternative fuels, hybrid propulsion, or electric drivetrains, allowing owners to make more informed investment decisions before committing to capital-intensive fleet modifications.
Interconnection Between Digital Capability and Cyber Exposure
The presentations collectively illustrate a structural dynamic that the tug industry shares with the broader maritime sector, namely that the operational benefits of digital integration and connectivity are inseparable from the expansion of cyber exposure. Each additional data connection, cloud integration, or remote access pathway that enables predictive maintenance or remote operation also represents a potential vulnerability that malicious actors can exploit. The memory stick risk highlighted by van Zaanen is particularly illustrative because it involves a low-technology attack vector that bypasses sophisticated network security measures, demonstrating that cyber risk in maritime operations cannot be addressed through perimeter defence alone but requires comprehensive policies covering physical media, software update procedures, and access management. Regulatory frameworks for maritime cybersecurity continue to develop, but the pace of technological change in vessel systems is outpacing the pace of regulatory guidance in many jurisdictions.
Implications for Tug Owners and Operators
The convergence of these themes has practical implications for how tug owners and operators approach fleet strategy, newbuild specification, and operational management. The competitive pressure to adopt digital tools that can deliver measurable fuel savings and operational efficiency improvements is substantial, particularly in an industry where margins are under pressure and emissions regulation is tightening. At the same time, the cybersecurity requirements associated with connected vessel systems are generating new costs and operational complexity that owners must account for in their total cost of operation. The emerging standard in modern tug design involves integrated digital and physical systems where cybersecurity, software maintenance, and data management are embedded in the vessel's operational framework from the outset rather than treated as add-on considerations.
Outlook for Digitalisation in Harbour Towage
The presentations at the Gothenburg convention suggest that the tug industry is at an inflection point where digital capability is transitioning from a differentiating feature to an operational baseline. Owners and operators that have not yet invested in fuel consumption analytics, AI-assisted propulsion optimisation, and digital maintenance platforms face growing competitive disadvantage as those that have invested demonstrate measurable efficiency and emissions improvements. The regulatory environment for maritime cybersecurity is expected to tighten as the IMO and national maritime authorities develop more detailed requirements for connected vessel systems. For the wider towage sector, the challenge over the coming years will be managing the simultaneous demands of accelerating digital adoption, strengthening cyber resilience, and navigating the capital requirements of fleet renewal, all within a commercial environment that continues to reward operational excellence and environmental performance.
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This article was contributed by an external writer affiliated with our publication.
