Autonomous cargo ship

Unmanned surface vehicle
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Autonomous cargo ships, also known as autonomous container ships or maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), are crewless vessels that transport either containers or bulk cargo over navigable waters with little or no human interaction. Different methods and levels of autonomy can be achieved through monitoring and remote control from a nearby manned ship, an onshore control center or through artificial intelligence and machine learning, letting the vessel itself decide the course of action.[1][2]

As of 2019, several autonomous cargo ship projects were in development, a prominent one being the construction of the MV Yara Birkeland, which was initially scheduled to enter trials in 2019 and operations in 2020.[3] In Russia, a group of companies under the umbrella of Industry Association MARINET initiated the Autonomous and Remote Navigation Trial Project. Within the framework of the project, three existing ships were equipped to be controlled remotely and able to operate in remote mode when carrying out their actual commercial voyages. Shipping firms operating in the Great Lakes are also actively pursuing this technology in partnership with various marine technology firms.[4]

As of 2020, Japan reported to the IMO on first MASS trial with the Iris Leader, pure car truck carrier.[5] France reported on trials with "VN REBEL",[6] the 80-meter-long merchant ship based in the Toulon harbour, which was remotely controlled from the Polytechnic School in the Paris region. China reported on trials conducted with the ship Jin Dou Yun 0 Hao,[7] the 12.9-m vessel operated by automatic navigation technology and remote control, and powered from an electrical plant.[8]

In 2021, Russian companies conducted trials of autonomous navigation systems during 28 commercial voyages. Due to promising results achieved, the maritime authorities of Russia have allowed any shipping company to equip its ships flying the flag of Russia with autonomous navigation systems and operate them in their regular activities as part of the national experiment, subject to some conditions.

Autonomous cargo ships are by some in the shipping industry viewed as the next logical step within maritime shipping, noting the general trend of automating tasks and reducing crews on ships. In 2016, Oskar Levander, Rolls-Royce's VP of Marine Innovation stated: "This is happening. It's not if, it's when. The technologies needed to make remote and autonomous ships a reality exist... We will see a remote controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade."[9]

Others have remained more skeptical, such as the CEO of the largest shipping company in the world, Søren Skou from Maersk who remarked that he does not see the advantages of removing the already downsized crews from ships, adding: "I don’t expect we will be allowed to sail around with 400-meter long container ships, weighing 200,000 tonnes without any human beings on board […] I don't think it will be a driver of efficiency, not in my time."[10][11] Regulatory, safety, legal and security challenges are viewed as the largest obstacles in making autonomous cargo ships a reality.[12]

  1. ^ Batalden, Bjorn-Morten; Leikanger, Per; Wide, Peter (2017). "Towards autonomous maritime operations". 2017 IEEE International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Virtual Environments for Measurement Systems and Applications (CIVEMSA). pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/CIVEMSA.2017.7995339. ISBN 978-1-5090-4253-1. S2CID 36116862.
  2. ^ "Some Companies Working on Autonomous Boats". Nanalyze. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2 Oct 2019.
  3. ^ Savvides, Nick (6 Jun 2019). "Revolution for inland shipping depends on the success of the Yara Birkeland". freightwaves.com. FreightWaves, Inc. Retrieved 29 Sep 2019.
  4. ^ Ryan, Leo (March 11, 2019). "Marine Delivers Magazine". Issuu. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  5. ^ "Seatrade Maritime News". NYK completes world’s first autonomous ship trial voyage from China to Japan.
  6. ^ "MSC 104/INF.19 Report on MASS trials of "VN REBEL" conducted in accordance with the Interim guidelines for MASS trials". IMO.
  7. ^ "MSC 104/INF.14 Report on MASS trials". IMO.
  8. ^ "Riviera". China will lead US$1.5Bn autonomous shipping market by 2025.
  9. ^ Levander, Oskar (21 June 2016). "Rolls-Royce publishes vision of the future of remote and autonomous shipping". Rolls-Royce. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  10. ^ Wienberg, Christian (15 February 2018). "Maersk's CEO Can't Imagine Self-Sailing Box Ships in His Lifetime". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  11. ^ "At Maersk, Autonomy Isn't the Next Big Thing". Maritime Executive. February 16, 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Safety and shipping review 2018" (PDF). Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.