Global Shipping Firms Roll Out Emissions-Cutting Technology

Across the far reaches of the ocean, hundreds of yellow, beach ball-sized buoys called Spotters bob in the swell, silently measuring surface temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and wave height. The real-time data they collect alerts cargo ship captains of the best routes to cut their carbon emissions.

At the waterfront offices of San Francisco startup Sofar Ocean, which makes the Spotters, a large wall screen displays the locations of the buoys and client ships as they crisscross the globe. As one owned by Singapore-based Berge Bulk rounds the Cape of Good Hope, Sofar’s service notifies the ...