Ashdod Port backs AI vessel-tracking startup Azimut.ai after successful pilot

Ashdod Port has deepened its push into smart-port technologies with a $650,000 investment in Israeli maritime startup Azimut.ai, following a successful trial of its AI-driven maritime awareness platform, Albatross.

The investment, channelled through the port’s Blue Ocean corporate venture arm, comes after a proof-of-concept that showed Albatross can identify, classify and track vessels in real time, including in situations where radar or AIS signals are absent or unreliable.

With the pilot validated, Ashdod Port has begun deploying the system across multiple operational zones. Azimut.ai said the capital infusion will help accelerate its rollout across Israel and support new market entries overseas.

Through its Maritime Technology Hub, Ashdod Port works with nearly 100 startups annually in areas spanning logistics, cybersecurity and port operations. Several of these innovations have already been implemented at Ashdod and at the port’s international innovation centres in Barcelona and New Jersey.