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Around the periphery of the room, individual control pods ‘Bridges’, each equipped with a (proper marine speci? cation) helmsman’s seat and de- signed to deliver peerless situational awareness will be home to up to 20 operators at any one time. More man- agerial staff such as vessel captains, will work on more conventional of? ce type workstations inboard and on a raised dais from where multiple activi- ties and vessels can be overseen. The ethos of close collaboration and duty of care has clearly been built into all design aspects. This is right down to the little padded perches for observ- ers of activities within the pods to sit, slightly aft and abeam of the operator, so as to be able to watch proceedings without creating any distraction or undue pressure.

For our visit in January 2023, the

RCC was a fully equipped shell, en- tirely devoid of people but things are moving quickly. A full ‘dress rehearsal’ will happen in February and fully re- mote controlled and monitored lean- crewed vessel operations will start in May. As Ocean In? nity’s head of marine remote systems, Colin Field pointed out, it’s going to be quite a contrast: “We’ll conduct operations here 24/7/365. So, from how we see it now, it will be a busy hub working constantly around the clock.”

Creating something new

Part of the challenge, and excite- ment for Field is playing such a key role in creating something so new to the industry, and not just in terms of the technology. At the time of writ- ing, Field admitted there was even still some conjecture at Ocean In? n- www.marinelink.com MN 23|

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