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<h1 id="gmail-call-for-participation-maritime-shipping-competition-msc-at-the-24th-international-conference-on-autonomous-agents-and-multiagent-systems-aamas-2025">Call
for Participation: Maritime Shipping Competition (MSC) at the 24th
International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems
(AAMAS 2025)<a href="https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/call/update/2025/02/10/call-for-contribution.html#call-for-participation-maritime-shipping-competition-msc-at-the-24th-international-conference-on-autonomous-agents-and-multiagent-systems-aamas-2025" class="gmail-permalink"> <span class="gmail-content-hash"></span> </a> </h1> <p></p> <p>We
invite researchers and practitioners to participate in
the Maritime Shipping Competition (MSC), hosted as part of the 24th
International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems
(AAMAS 2025), with final presentations taking place on the 20th of May
2025 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. This competition provides an opportunity
to showcase and compare innovative approaches in auction bidding and
transportation scheduling.</p><p>
To participate, please visit:</p><p><a href="https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/" target="_blank">https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/</a>
<br></p> <h2 id="gmail-about-the-competition">About the Competition </h2> <p>Maritime
transportation is one of the backbones of international trade and
supply chains. While the sector has shown growth in recent years,
maritime transportation is also facing critical challenges around
geopolitical tensions, climate change and disruptions at key
chokepoints, e.g. the Panama and the Suez Canals. Shipping companies are
investigating digital solutions, including digital twin and multi-agent
technologies, to improve fleet utilisation, e.g. via transportation
scheduling, to reduce costs but also greenhouse gas emissions. Many of
these digital solutions are in their infancy and could benefit from
innovative applications of approaches from multiagent system, artificial
intelligence, scheduling, auction bidding and related technologies.</p> <p>The
competition will require to develop a software agent in Python that
operates the trade auctions and fleet transmutation scheduling for a
maritime shipping company. Participating will allow you to compete for
prizes.</p> <p>We will run a warm-up competition to get early feedback and a final competition with results being presented at AAMAS.</p> <h2 id="gmail-participation-and-timeline">Participation and Timeline </h2> <p>We
welcome contributions from teams up to five people across academia,
industry, and independent research communities. Participants are
required to submit an agent implemented in Python and a short 2-4 page
report.</p> <ul><li>Warm-up Competition Submission Deadline: 24/03/2025</li><li>Warm-up Competition Results Release: 07/04/2025</li><li>Competition Submission Deadline: 28/04/2025</li><li>Announcement of Presentation Slots: 05/05/2025</li><li>Competition Results Presentation and Winner Announcement: 20/05/2025</li></ul> <p>Submissions should be made via <a href="mailto:msc.aamas2025@soton.ac.uk">msc.aamas2025@soton.ac.uk</a>, following the instructions provided at <a href="https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/" target="_blank">https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/</a>.</p> <p>All submission dates are 23:59h AoE (Anywhere on Earth).</p> <h2 id="gmail-competition-session-at-aamas">Competition Session at AAMAS </h2> <p>All
teams will have the opportunity to present their agent and strategy at
the session at AAMAS 2025. A presentation will be necessary to compete
for the innovative ideas prize.</p> <h2 id="gmail-awards--recognition">Awards & Recognition </h2> <p>The competition will feature certificates and performance based prizes and a prize for an innovative ideas.</p> <p>The
first three teams according to the average tournament ranking will
receive a certificate and a cash prize. The overall winner will receive
£500, the runner-up will receive £300 and the team placing third will
receive £100.</p> <p>Additionally, the team with the most interesting
strategy agent prize will receive £100. This prize will be judged on the
day of the competition at AAMAS after the presentations.</p> <h2 id="gmail-how-to-get-involved">How to Get Involved <br></h2> <p>To participate, please visit <a href="https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/" target="_blank">https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/</a> for detailed guidelines. For any inquiries, contact us at <a href="mailto:msc.aamas2025@soton.ac.uk">msc.aamas2025@soton.ac.uk</a>.</p> <h2 id="gmail-organising-committee"><a href="https://jbuerman.github.io/Maritime-Shipping-Competition-AAMAS2025/organisingcommittee">Organising Committee</a> </h2> <ul><li>Enrico Gerding, University of Southampton, UK</li><li>Enrico Marchioni, University of Southampton, UK</li><li>Baharak Rastegari, University of Southampton, UK</li><li>Jan Buermann, University of Southampton, UK</li></ul> <p>The
competition and prizes are made possible thanks to the Centre for
Maritime Futures at the University of Southampton with support from
Shell plc.</p>
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