A model for prediction of a group of vessels’ availability for a specific cargo from a specific port

You are going to write a master thesis in cooperation with the team and data in Maritime Optima, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi! I am Utkarsh Goyal born and raised in India. I have completed my Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering from India and currently I am doing Masters at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Applied Computer Science. In addition, I work as a Full Stack Developer for an Indian start-up.

I am doing my Master thesis in collaboration with Maritime Optima. I was always passionate about the field of Artificial Intelligence, this field has always fascinated me. How can we make machines think like us people? So, I have been studying that since high school and always try to do some project when there is such an opportunity.

I am a sociable person who does not enjoy living alone, therefore I enjoy going out on weekends to see family and friends, as well as binge watching TV shows.

What do you know about the maritime industry? Do you have some relatives or friends working in the industry? What attracted you to choose Maritime Optima and the maritime industry for your master thesis?

I'm a novice in the maritime industry. I am unfamiliar with this field, and I have never been on a boat or cruise. I don't have any family or friends that work in the sector as well. So this is a relatively new field for me, and I am excited to learn more about it. The opportunity to learn from people with a maritime background as well as a diversified team is something I’m looking forward to.

You are going to write a master thesis with the working title “A model for prediction of a group of vessels’ availability for a specific cargo from a specific port”. Can you tell us a little bit about the project?

My Master's thesis is based on Morten's thesis, which he finished last year. One of the goals of my thesis is to enhance Morten's model, either by adding new characteristics to the dataset or by altering the model to increase its accuracy. The second section discusses how to anticipate which vessels will be able to access the cargo at the port. As a result, I believe the second half can be completed quickly if the first problem's answer is improved. But I'll have to talk to the specialists at Maritime Optima about how to do it more effectively in the future. For the time being, I'm concentrating on the first issue.‍

Why did you find this project interesting?

As I previously stated, I take the opportunity to accept projects that utilize Artificial Intelligence. When I initially heard about this project, I was pleased since it involves a large amount of data and the use of a machine learning model. Second, I'll have experts with whom I can collaborate, learn about this new industry, and accomplish my assignment.‍

What do you think will be the most challenging part of the project?

Every project will have certain difficulties, but we must overcome them in order to complete it. The first difficulty is the data; there is a lot of data accessible, but a lot of it is inconsistent or unusable, so we need to figure out how to enhance the data so the majority of it can be helpful. Second, because I am unfamiliar with this field, all of the marine phrases are foreign to me, and I must learn them in order to comprehend how they may be used as database features. These are the problems at the moment, but I'm sure there will be more as the project progresses.‍

Thanks Utkarsh. We are happy to have you in our team and we are looking forward to following the progress in your work and to the next interview.