Unmanned Shipping News

While the shipbuilding market has been advantaging Asian lower-cost manufacturing in the last decades, AUTOSHIP will build around two EU industrial market and leading technology providers, such as Rolls Royce and Kongsberg, to create a stronger European cluster able to thrust a market worth Billions of Euros in the next decade, bringing new high-skilled jobs and a safer and greener transport in Europe.AUTOSHIP will build and operate 2 R&A vessels and their needed shore control and operation infrastructure, reaching and going over TRL7.Testing will take place during two pilot demonstration campaigns addressing goods mobility from the Baltic Corridor to a major EU seaport and hinterland…

While debates rage in regards to safety, insurance and cyber security, the tech powering autonomous maritime operations continues to power ahead.Advances in sensor technology, data analytics and bandwidth-to-shore are fundamentally changing the way shipping works. And as operations are digitalized, they become more automated, Dr. Pierre C. Sames, Director of Group Technology & Research at class society DNV GL, has stated.Governments around the world are looking into unmanned shipping…

In a show of prototypes, a pod of unmanned sailboats from around the world competes to cross “The Atlantic” test tank in Horten, Norway. Cross the real ocean, and the Sail Bots race similarly challenges scholarly robotic-vessel designers to North America for a bit of station-keeping, collision-avoidance and “cargo moves”. For all, the future seems bright — the first commercial runs of unmanned vessels are underway or scheduled worldwide. These earliest movers have the support of governments, Google and grateful clients.

Many believe that masterless ships may become reality within a very short period of time. Surely, the technology for unmanned ships is coming, yet it remains unknown exactly where, when and to what extent. Now, the Danish Maritime Authority (DMA), together with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), is seeking the answers for these unknowns by launching a prestudy on autonomous ships. DMA said the purpose of its cooperation with the DTU is, firstly, to increase the common knowledge base and to set the preliminary frames so that the development and use of unmanned ships can come about in an appropriate manner. Minister for Business and Growth…

Examining some questions regarding commercial autonomous and drone ships, as well as why VSAT currently presents the best solution for the communications and control of such vessels. The topic of autonomous shipping has been much in the news recently. We have seen, for example, the announcement in September 2015 that Inmarsat has begun participating in the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) recently launched by Rolls Royce. This initiative is designed to move autonomous shipping from the drawing board to a commercial reality.

There is a global boom in the development of unmanned systems, from below the ocean’s surface to high in the sky to the world’s roads. Add to this list the maritime industry, on both military and civilian vessels. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News examines in depth recent developments taking place in Europe to discover general thoughts and technical trends driving the future of unmanned shipping. The joint European Research Project MUNIN was finalized in August 2015, a project…

The 14th International Conference on Computer and IT Applications in the Maritime Industries (COMPIT) will take place from 11th to 13th May 2015 in Ulrichshusen, Germany. First held in the year 2000, COMPIT has established itself as a key conference in information technology (IT) for the maritime industries, bringing together software developers and users. Most participants come from industry, reflecting the practical relevance of the event. DNV GL will be the main sponsor of the event which covers the lifecycle of ships, offshore structures and equipment, from design to operation. E-navigation (or sea traffic management) could be considered as the maritime equivalent of air traffic control systems.

Experts from the maritime industry met on the M/S Pearl Seaways from January 28-30 for the e-Navigation Underway 2014 international conference. One topic of the talks and discussions was unmanned shipping, which Fraunhofer CML is examining and advancing as part of the research project MUNIN (Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks). e-navigation – in other words the collection, analysis and exchange of maritime information both on land and at sea – was the main subject of talk on the M/S Pearl Seaways and discussed by the maritime experts on various levels.