Skip to main content

China's First Smart Ship makes Debut


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 service stations.
The “self-learning” ship can also spot dangers and identify system bugs.
However, it has been highlighted that “actions taken in response to any information provided by the Intelligent Navigation System shall be by human.”
Other key features of the ship include:

  • Ship Operation and Maintenance System (SOMS) Health Management which is in charge of monitoring the ship’s main equipment performance;
  • SOMS Intelligent Integration Platform, which manages data, and makes analysis and forecasting,
  • SOMS Energy Efficiency Management, which monitors energy efficiency and provides analytics and optimisation and decision-making support.
Factory acceptance and sea trial tests for the Great Intelligence’s smart system took place last month and the ship’s smart system met the requirements.
During Marintec LR handed over the ship the cyber-enabled ship descriptive notes.
Qiu Bohua, Director, CSSC Systems Engineering Research Institute, Oceanic Intelligent Technology Innovation Centre, explained that the SOMS utilises advanced sensing technology to build the ship’s network.
“Moreover, SOMS builds the brain based on intelligent technologies such as machine learning. Finally, SOMS realises the intelligent application such as energy efficiency management system and health management system.”

“SDARI has been making effort to design ships that are safe, economic and efficient. Great Intelligence is one of those. We redesigned the ship as a digital ship, we didn’t just apply the smart systems. After the delivery, it will be an example what a smart ship is and make the shipping safer, more economical and more efficient,” Li Xin, Innovation Centre Smart Ship Project Team Vice Director of SDARI, said.
Great Intelligence will be used by Sinotrans Shipping to transport coal and salt between China, Australia and Southeast Asia, according to Xinhua.
The promotion was also used as an occasion for the formal establishment of the China Smart Ship Innovation Alliance.
The alliance, which includes China Classification society, CSSC, SERI and SDARI, among other members, aims to speed up technological advancement and industrial development of the smart ships.
Image Courtesy: LR, CSSC

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Norway Opens New Test Area for Autonomous Ships

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...
Post a Comment
Read more
A BB has launched a new situational awareness system that can be used by officers anywhere onboard a ship to access multiple real-time visualisations of a vessel’s surroundings. ABB Ability Marine Pilot Vision incorporates sensor and computer vision technology to create a virtual model of the ship that is superimposed on real surroundings, to view operations from a third person’s perspective. The officer can switch between views as required. “The launch of ABB Ability Marine Pilot Vision addresses an important step in the ongoing digitalisation of ship operations,” said Juha Koskela, managing director at ABB Marine & Ports. “This new solution indicates an important landmark in ABB’s digital strategy and offering for our customers. It also demonstrates the aspiration and technology leadership that ABB has to offer for the maritime industry.” In addition to providing situational awareness support on board existing ships, ABB expects the new system to prove useful in en...
Post a Comment
Read more