Ship Intelligence News

Power solutions provider Fairbanks Morse said it has named James "Jay" McFadyen as Vice President and General Manager of Aftermarket.McFadyen has more than 30 years of experience in the marine, defense and aerospace industries with leading global companies including Rolls-Royce, GE, and most recently as Vice President for Leonardo DRS-Naval Power Systems. Recognized as an innovator, McFadyen twice won GE’s award for Engineering Accomplishment of the Year and formed the first business unit at Rolls-Royce to be recognized as an Innovation Center of Excellence.

Norwegian technology group Kongsberg Gruppen announced that it has completed its acquisition of Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine (RRCM), with the European Commission's approval.Kongsberg Gruppen announced its intention to acquire RRCM, an established and trusted global supplier of maritime technology and engineering products, in July 2018.With the unification of Kongsberg Maritime and RRCM, Kongsberg is represented in 40 countries, has more than 11,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than NOK 22 billion. A fleet of more than 30,000 vessels depends on the organisation’s combined expertise.“I have looked forward to this day for a long time.

Rolls-Royce and Finnish state-owned ferry operator Finferries have successfully demonstrated the world’s first fully autonomous ferry in the archipelago south of the city of Turku, Finland.The car ferry Falco, used a combination of Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence technologies to successfully navigate autonomously during its voyage between Parainen and Nauvo. The return journey was conducted under remote control.During the demonstration, the Falco, with 80 invited VIP guests aboard, conducted the voyage under fully autonomous control.

Rolls-Royce and Intel are intending to collaborate on designs for sophisticated intelligent shipping systems that will make commercial shipping safer, the parties announced.This will advance smart, connected and data-centric systems for ship owners, operators, cargo owners and ports, bringing together the expertise in advanced ship technology from Rolls-Royce with components and systems engineering from Intel. With a focus on safety, new ships will have systems with the same technology found in smart cities, autonomous cars and drones.The new shipping intelligence systems will have data center and artificial intelligence capabilities as well as sophisticated edge computing throughout that independently manage navigation…

Rolls Royce and Intel Artificial Intelligence (AI) announced that they’re bringing advanced intelligence to cargo shipping to deliver on the benefits of an autonomous shipping future.As part of its effort to make commercial shipping safer and more efficient, Rolls-Royce is working to develop fully autonomous shipping solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) powered by Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Intel 3D NAND SSDs for storage.“Delivering these systems is all about processing – moving and storing huge volumes of data – and that is where Intel comes in.

Rolls-Royce continues to develop its ship intelligence offerings to the market, and now introduces a pioneering new solution for Health Management of ship equipment.The technology is aimed at elevating the way in which customers manage and maintain the equipment and systems onboard their ships.Health Management is designed to provide ship operators with an unsurpassed level of understanding of the operational health and performance of all the machinery installations onboard.Developed by the Ship Intelligence team at Rolls-Royce, the latest development of Health Management uses ship data combined with advanced machine learning techniques.

As the global maritime industry increases the level of automation and ship-to-shore connection, the move toward autonomy is gaining steam in certain sectors. While it is generally agreed among industry insiders that full autonomous operations on ships traversing the world's oceans is a generation or more away, there are some significant strides being made on shorter, point-to-point inland and coastal routes, as well as evolving the technology in a manner that automates onboard systems to help reduce crewing and workloads.

Kongsberg Gruppen ASA (KONGSBERG) today entered into agreement with Rolls-Royce plc to acquire Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine, a world leading technology business within maritime operations. The transaction is structured as an acquisition by KONGSBERG of the marine products, systems and aftermarket services businesses carried out by subsidiaries of Rolls-Royce plc. The transaction does not include Bergen Engines nor Rolls-Royce's Naval Business. The parties have agreed a value for Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine of GBP 500 million (on a cash and debt free basis and with working capital at an agreed level). The final purchase price, will be determined based on Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine's cash, debt and working capital at time of completion of the transaction.

Finnish shipowner Finferries has partnered with Rolls-Royce in an effort to advance technologies for remote and autonomous ferry operations.The companies signed a collaboration agreement Thursday to jointly develop strategies and solutions to optimize the safety and efficiency of marine operations through developing the technology for decision supporting systems and to demonstrate remote and autonomous ferry operations.As part of the collaboration, a new research project called…

As industry efforts to make autonomous shipping a reality continue, Rolls-Royce and AXA Corporate Solutions have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to explore ways in which they can bring a new risk management offering to the marine market.The companies say they seek to utilize Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence systems and equipment and AXA’s risk analytics capabilities to support current sailing and future vessels."Combining AXA’s Marine Underwriting expertise and Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence will enable both companies to deliver higher customer value through continuous innovation…

Rolls-Royce has unveiled a sophisticated situational awareness system that fuses multiple sensors with intelligent software to mitigate against the safety risks navigators face when operating vessels at night, in adverse weather conditions or in congested waterways. Officially introduced today during the Seatrade Cruise Global event in Fort Lauderdale, USA, the Rolls-Royce Intelligent Awareness (IA) system is the first of its kind to be made commercially available that uses data collection to enhance navigational safety and operational efficiency. Iiro Lindborg, Rolls-Royce, General Manager, Remote & Autonomous Operations, said: “The IA system forms part of our ongoing development of the autonomous ship…

Rolls-Royce’s new research facility in Turku, Finland provides a space for the company and its partners to develop technologies that will help shape the future of an increasingly more autonomous global shipping industry. Officially opened on January 25, the new R&D center, which Rolls-Royce calls the Research & Development Center for Autonomous Ships, will focus on projects relating to autonomous navigation, the development of land-based control centers and the use of artificial intelligence in future remote and autonomous shipping operations.

Automated now; autonomous looms large in the center porthole. The word ‘autonomous’ is probably the maritime industry’s most frequently used term in the past year. The word, however, has a far different meaning than the similarly sounding “automated” – which means that certain processes are handled by machines, rather than by humans. Throughout 2017, industry thought leaders have been mulling over the new digital paradigms that are emerging including the ‘Internet of Things’ and/or the linkage of processes and machines – the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ – where devices talk to each other…

Britain's Rolls-Royce said on Wednesday it was considering the sale of its commercial marine business, which has been hit by weak demand in offshore oil and gas markets, as part of a restructuring of the company into three core units. Shares in the company jumped after it said the loss-making unit could be sold. They were trading up 7.2 percent at 1330 GMT. The announcement came as part of a restructuring of the aero-engine maker into civil aerospace, defence and power systems units, with naval marine and nuclear submarines consolidated into defence and civil nuclear into power systems. Chief Executive Warren East said the latest overhaul would enable the company to respond quicker to meet the needs of its customers…

The first of Rolls-Royce’ series of ship intelligence experience spaces has opened to show customers, suppliers and partners how the latest digital solutions can transform the marine industry. Opened in Ålesund, Norway, the Intelligent Asset Management (IAM) experience space sets out to demonstrate how ship intelligence systems can harness the “power of data” to optimize fleet operations, reduce operating costs and improve maintenance procedures, Rolls-Royce said. The IAM space provides an area for Rolls-Royce customers to validate the advantages of using IAM systems…

The maritime industry's exhaustive push toward autonomy just received a boost in the form of a deal signed between Rolls-Royce and Google to develop further its intelligent awareness systems. The agreement was signed at the Google Cloud Summit in Sweden, and it allows Rolls-Royce to use Google’s Cloud Machine Learning Engine to further train the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) based object classification system for detecting, identifying and tracking the objects a vessel can encounter at sea.

Rolls-Royce. The words have been used by many to signify excellence – though not with the company’s permission, of course. Rolls-Royce Marine is taking a leading position in developing and introducing the systems and technologies needed for the running of a successful business in the maritime industry of the 21st century. At a company presentation held in London earlier this year, Mikael Mäkinen, President of Rolls-Royce Marine, outlined the company’s vision for the future and its strategies to put these new systems based on new technologies into place.

Rolls-Royce has launched a V-Line version of its highly successful B33:45 engine series. At 600 kW per cylinder the new design delivers 20 percent more power than the B32:40, in a compact design allowing more power in the same footprint as its predecessor, the manufacturer said. The new V12 is the first variant in the new V-series, where a V16 and a V20 will follow, to address a bigger portion of the marine and land market. Typical marine applications will be larger fishing vessels…

Rolls-Royce said it has signed a deal with Swedish ferry company Stena Line AB to collaborate in the development of its first intelligent awareness system. Intelligent awareness systems will make vessels safer, easier and more efficient to operate by providing crew with an enhanced understanding of their vessel’s surroundings, according to Rolls-Royce. This will be achieved by fusing data from a range of sensors with information from existing ship systems; such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) and radar. Data from other sources, including global databases, will also have a role.

Esa Jokioinen leads Rolls-Royce Marine’s Blue Ocean Team, a team that looks five to 10 years into the future to evaluate evolving technology trends, helping to determine where the company will invest. Jokioinen sat in Maritime Reporter & Engineering News’ New York City headquarters to discuss the look of maritime’s future: All arrows point toward digitalization. When Esa Jokioinen and his Rolls-Royce Blue Ocean Team look at future technology trajectory, he admits that there are some things related to energy storage (batteries), new fuel and exhaust cleaning that hold promise.

Rolls-Royce has announced the latest stage in its research and development plans to make remote and autonomous shipping a reality and reap the benefits of increasing digitalization in the marine industry. The company said it is looking to develop partnerships and opportunities with other organizations around the world to, create the capability, competencies and jobs to supply the technology and components required. Today, the latest part of that program has been confirmed with the announcement, in Finland, of a significant research grant by Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation.

The Rolls-Royce portfolio of equipment and services extends well beyond the engine room, leveraging decades of experience in myriad business sectors. The words ‘Rolls-Royce’ can roll right off your tongue, and when they do, the average person in the maritime space probably thinks first of big, powerful, and environmentally-correct marine engines. That might have rung true just two decades ago, but today, that visual doesn’t give justice to what the firm has evolved to become. That’s also where Jay McFadyen, Rolls-Royce Senior Vice President for Ship Intelligence, comes in. In a candid interview given at this year’s SMM Exposition in Hamburg, Germany, McFadyen laid out for Marine News not only what Rolls-Royce is up to today, but also where it is headed tomorrow.

Rolls-Royce and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd have announced a strategic partnership to design, test and validate the first generation of remote and autonomous ships. The new partnership will combine and integrate the two company’s unique expertise to make such vessels a commercial reality. Rolls-Royce is pioneering the development of remote controlled and autonomous ships and believes a remote controlled ship will be in commercial use by the end of the decade. The company is applying technology, skills and experience from across its businesses to this development.