Maritime compliance platform BetterSea has announced the launch of Stylianos, an AI agent designed to take on the analytical workload of shipping's expanding emissions compliance obligations.

The regulatory landscape driving this demand has intensified rapidly. The EU extended its Emissions Trading System to cover maritime CO₂ emissions from January 2024, and FuelEU Maritime — which limits the greenhouse gas intensity of energy used by ships calling at EU ports — took effect in January 2025. Layered alongside the UK ETS and emerging national-level carbon taxes such as those in Djibouti and Gabon, these frameworks have created overlapping and sometimes interacting obligations that vessel operators must assess simultaneously.

Unlike a standalone chatbot, Stylianos operates within the data environment of BetterSea's existing platform, guiding users from an initial compliance question through to a prepared action, according to the company.

Users can direct the agent to estimate compliance costs for specific vessels or voyage scenarios across multiple regulatory frameworks, including FuelEU Maritime, the EU ETS, the UK ETS, and the carbon taxes implemented by Djibouti and Gabon. The agent can also compare compliance pathways, identify optimal pool compositions, and source quotations for FuelEU surplus and ETS transactions through BetterSea's marketplace. In addition, Stylianos can conduct compliance checks that include counterparty risk assessment.

BetterSea emphasizes that the system is built on a human-in-the-loop model. The agent can analyse, recommend, prepare, and source, but it does not execute transactions without explicit user review and approval. The company also states that its AI models are not trained on customer data, ensuring that vessel, operational, and commercial information remains confidential.

"Shipping companies are dealing with more compliance data, more regulations, and more execution steps than ever before, on top of their day-to-day workload," said Maximilian Schroer, co-CEO of BetterSea, in a statement accompanying the launch. "We want users to be able to ask a straightforward question about a vessel or voyage and in minutes move from understanding their exposure to evaluating the best strategy and preparing execution within the same platform."

Dr Gordana Ilic, BetterSea's other co-CEO, highlighted the distinction between AI-assisted and AI-driven decision-making. "The important distinction for us is that AI supports decision-making without removing control from the user," she said. "This gives teams the speed of AI while preserving the oversight required for executing compliance."

With the IMO's revised greenhouse gas strategy targeting net-zero emissions from international shipping by or around 2050, further regulatory measures are expected in the coming years, adding to the compliance burden that tools like Stylianos aim to address.

Stylianos is available now through the BetterSea platform at no additional cost to existing users.

Source: Ship & Bunker