NAVTOR has opened a new office in Gdansk, Poland, dedicated to accelerating development of cloud-based and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

The maritime technology firm is tapping into a local IT talent pool already prized by companies such as Amazon, Boeing and Intel, all of whom have bases in the city, adding to its existing software development network in Houston, St Petersburg, and Egersund, Norway.

NAVTOR CEO Tor Svanes sees the move as a continuation of the firm’s evolution, as it creates a far-reaching product portfolio built on the foundations of its e-Navigation and smart shipping expertise.

“It’s always been our vision to take the enhanced efficiency, safety, transparency and control we bring to clients through our e-Navigation innovations and translate that into a broader, integrated smart shipping solution,” Svanes said.

“Earlier this year, when we launched fleet management application NavFleet and acquired Houston’s Tres Solutions, we announced our arrival into the performance optimisation arena. This is an area where we see huge potential – for both ourselves and our clients – utilising our unique digital ecosystem, which seamlessly connects ships, shore and entire organisations, to unlock the power of data and drive better business decision making. The move into Poland should be seen in that context: creating a world class development team to deliver world class, integrated and truly transformative solutions.”

NAVTOR has recruited maritime software engineer Jacek Maszota to lead the office as country manager. He will now be building a team of developers in a city that blends digital talent with maritime heritage and understanding.

NAVTOR CTO Anders Holme says the firm is rapidly growing both its product offering and technical team, with 15 new recruits over the space of the last year alone. The investment in Poland, he says, is part of a carefully structured growth strategy:

“We want to control our own destiny, delivering innovations (and benefits) to customers that no one else can. To achieve that we need a network of expert internal resources, with the best minds focused exclusively on solving the challenges our industry faces day-in, day-out. We strongly believe our solutions can help enable greener, safer, more profitable operations for vessels everywhere. With Jacek and his team onboard we can accelerate development and help our customers stay ahead of the competition.”

The Polish team will focus on the development and implementation of cloud solutions (based on the Microsoft Azure service) and AI-enhanced monitoring and decision support tools.