Autonomous Ships - A reality by 2030

Suppliers and owners tackle vessel remote control challenges GulfMark Offshore’s Highland Chieftain in the North Sea was controlled from a workstation in California in August Rolls-Royce, Wärtsilä and Navtor have demonstrated technologies for remotely controlling different types of workboats Technology providers plan to work closely with shipowners during 2018 to tackle some of the challenges emerging as remote control and autonomous ships are developed. These include providing greater and more accurate information to vessel operators, developing better anti-collision programs and producing physical feedback to controllers. In 2017, Rolls-Royce collaborated with Danish tug owner Svitzer and class society Lloyd’s Register to develop a method of controlling a harbour tug from a remote control room.  Marine Electronics & Communications  saw this in action in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 16 November when a tug master successfully controlled the 2016-buil...

China’s first smart ship, Great Intelligence, was presented this week at Marintec China 2017, Shanghai which hosted revelations of several innovative ship design concepts. Great Intelligence, a 38,800 dwt modified version of the Green Dolphin fuel-efficient bulk carrier concept, was  announced in 2015  as the first smart ship pilot project in China. The ship was designed by Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI) and built at Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Co. (GWS), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). Lloyd’s Register (LR), System Engineering Research Institute (SERI) and China Class Society (CCS) were also involved in the project. Great Intelligence features an intelligent navigation system which enables it to optimize shipping routes in order to reach the destination in shortest time and with minimal fuel consumption. The best routes are selected based on the data collected from ship and shore-based serv...

Norway has opened an autonomous shipping test bed in Horten on the Oslofjord, Kongsberg said. The test bed, officially opened on December 6, is the third of its kind in the country and the fourth such approved area in the world. Established to support the growth in the development of new solutions for autonomous maritime operations, the new area is open to both Norwegian and international organizations. As explained, the area is designed to be  “a convenient, safe, non-congested space to trial new technology and vessels.” The area is specially designated for autonomous trials by the Norwegian Maritime Administration and the Norwegian Coastal Administration. The initiative to establish the new test bed was undertaken by maritime technology company Kongsberg, the town of Horten, classification society DNV GL, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and the University College of South East Norway. The introduction of the test bed follows the last year’s openin...

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has joined forces with Inmarsat under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), establishing a relationship to leverage the ‘smart ship’ connectivity offered by Fleet Xpress at the vessel construction stage. Under the deal, the South Korean yard would install Inmarsat-approved terminal hardware and applications to cover remote machinery diagnostics and CCTV services, to leverage the satellite communications platform’s capabilities from the moment the ship is delivered. The new service, which has been christened ‘Smart Ship’, will allow owners to enhance efficiency by harvesting data from hull-monitors and equipment sensors onboard in real-time. “This agreement with SHI represents a new chapter in the story of smart shipping and the connected vessel ,”   Ronald Spithout, Inmarsat Maritime President,  said. Subject to a definitive agreement, SHI will retain remote connections to vessels, while Inmarsat will support SHI’s services th...

BMT’s Rembrandt simulator will be combined with ASV Global’s autonomous vessel control simulator A group of UK-based companies has started a new £1.2M (US$1.6M) research project to investigate how autonomous vessels could co-exist with manned ships. BMT has teamed up with ASV Global and Deimos Space UK for the Shared Waterspace Autonomous Navigation by Satellite (Swans) project. With funding from Innovate UK these companies will investigate how autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) can use existing and future satellite capabilities for collision avoidance and communications. This is particularly focused on autonomous vessels operating beyond the horizon of shore and in congested maritime traffic, BMT managing director Phil Thompson explained, adding that the few autonomous vessels already developed use the global automatic identification system (AIS) for collision avoidance. “But they remain at risk of colliding with vessels or objects not using AIS,” he said in a statement...

World's First Certified Smart Ship Delivered in Shanghai The world's first smart ship was delivered in Shanghai on Tuesday. The Lloyd's Register (LR) in Britain and the China Classification Society have both certified and accredited the China-designed and built ship as an intelligent ship. The prestigious LR certification symbolizes that China's smart ship building technologies have reached the world top level. The 38,800-tonne bulk carrier of 179-meter long, 32-meter wide and 15-meter deep is named Great Intelligence. It was developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). After being delivered to Sinotrans Limited under China Merchants Group, it will mainly be used for transportation of coal and salt along the China-Australia and Southeast Asia sea routes. "This is the world's first intelligent ship as certified and accredited by the Lloyd's Register in the UK and the China Classification Society. Its most sali...

IMO Assembly Elects New 40-Member Council The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has elected new members of its council for the 2018-2019 biennium. Category (a) includes ten states with the largest interest in providing international shipping services: China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States. Category (b) comprises ten states with the largest interest in international seaborne trade: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates. Category (c) encompasses 20 states not elected under (a) or (b) above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world: Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, ...

A Dutch consortium of nearly 20 partners has launched a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to study and demonstrate the technical possibilities for autonomous shipping. Announced in the framework of the Smart Shipping Challenge 2017, which started on November 30, the two-year applied research programme is expected to help reduce operating costs and improve safety and sustainability in shipping, and lead to a roadmap for the introduction of autonomy in the sector. The study will start with an exploration and analysis of possible applications. Next, it will look at the requirements for safe navigation in shipping environments – autonomous vessels will have to make the right decisions even in case of malfunctions or heavy traffic. Then, the project will examine whether it is possible to use existing techniques to mitigate or fix these malfunctions from shore. This will be tested by means of simulations and various demonstrations, both in the office environment and on board act...

UK-based engineering company Rolls-Royce and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at pursuing space activities in support of autonomous, remote controlled shipping and promoting innovation in European digital logistics. As explained, the two parties aim to develop and validate new solutions for communication between vessel systems and shore-based systems in addition to ship-to-ship communication. This will enable the operation of commercial remote and autonomous shipping, innovative cargo logistics, smart ports and future commercial marine vessels. “The space industry has been operating assets remotely for many decades. The information, software and satellite-based technologies the sector has developed are wholly relevant to the work Rolls-Royce is doing to make the remote and autonomous ship a reality,”  Karno Tenovuo, Rolls-Royce, SVP Ship Intelligence , said. “This agreement is another demonstration of the positive application...