Michael O'Brien

Michael's Story

“Working with StormGeo’s product team is an extremely rewarding experience. We have people that are tightly connected to various facets of the maritime industry bringing a great deal of insight and personal experience to our products. As a former deck officer of unlimited tonnage vessels, I have coupled my professional experience with my Meteorology and Oceanography education to serve the maritime industry for the last thirty years. My main objective during this time has been working to make vessel transits safer, more economical and efficient in terms of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emission.”

Michael graduated from the State University of New York Maritime College and began sailing in the late 1980s. Upon coming ashore in 1992, he began working around voyage optimization and vessel performance.

Michael joined the team at StormGeo in 2006 as a Route Operations Manager, opening the US operations office in suburban New York City.

“The maritime industry is dynamic with a long heritage. Contributing to the safety and efficiency of vessels worldwide has given me a true sense of accomplishment.”

In addition to daily operations, Michael has been involved in technical sales and business development. This work has taken him to all corners of the world listening to client needs and helping to develop meaningful solutions.

In more recent years Michael has led the products department for the Shipping Division of StormGeo. The focus in this role has been taking the pulse of the industry and understanding what it would take to meet the needs of the vessel owners and operators of all vessel types.

“I enjoy the variety of challenges that shipping provides. The optimization services we provide are helping to keep the crew, vessel and cargo safe. Furthermore, the innovations we have made in terms of technical vessel performance are putting cutting-edge tools into the hands of shipping professionals.”

Michael is a member of the academic advisory board for the State University of New York Maritime College. The academic advisory board provides input into the curriculum of the college to help better train shipping professionals for challenging work in the maritime industry.

“Taking part in the academic advisory board is a wonderful experience. The work we do is having a real influence on the direction of the academic program helping to prepare young maritime professionals with a well-rounded science program.”

Recent research
• The influence of environmental conditions on the power setting and RPM’s of a vessel
• Optimized vessel routing in relation to environmental control areas
• Changing influence of ocean currents when slow steaming vessels.

Expertise/topics
Route Optimization; Vessel Performance; Charter Party Claims; Technical Vessel Performance; Meteorology; Weather Forecasting

Publications
“Vessel Routing and Tropical Cyclones”, International Tug and OSV (2013)

“Unforeseen Pitfalls Operating Vessels Through ECA”, Seatrade Maritime News (2014)

Conferences
“Weather and Ferry Safety”, Ferry Safety and Technology Conference, New York City, 2014

“Climate Change and the North Sea Route”, Nautical Institute, Hong Kong, 2015

“Vessel Efficiency”, Shipping Insights Conference, Stamford, CT., 2016

“Connected Ships and Cyber Security”, Digital Ship Tokyo, 2017

Education
Michael holds a B.S in Meteorology & Oceanography, M.S in Environmental Science