Page 37: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2019)

AUTONOMOUS SHIPPING • THOUGHT LEADERSHIP “I see more people have an interest in automating and making autonomous a part of the operation, not go- ing fully unmanned but automating increasing systems onboard, operating onboard with less people and target- ing speci? c parts of the operation such as machinery operations. Some are looking into fully unmanned ships, but at the moment that is relatively lim- ited.”

Bjorn Johan Vartdal, Program Director of

Maritime Research, DNV GL ages multi-ton vessels in dynamic envi- ment.” all cars were autonomous and able to hull, MTI’s Ando sees the matter clearly ronments is not something to take lightly While Paulsen of Kongsberg also speak to each other, it would be fewer and simply. “We can apply a fascinat- in any aspect of the development path,” views regulation as the major hurdle, he problems. As long as you have cars driv- ing technology, but if the crew does not said Johnson. “Our goal right now is to points to a second challenge that must be en by people and autonomous cars, there understand (or use) the technology, it is get enough SM200 and SM300 units into thought through, too. are more problems.” useless. The captain, crew and ship man- the hands of active operators because use “The second challenge is the mixing of And while conversation and much agement – all stakeholders – must be on- in their worlds gives us feedback neces- manned vessels and unmanned vessels. debate swirl regarding the technology, board for new technology upgrades for sary to empower continued develop- For example in the automotive ? eld, if the regulation, the machinery and the them to be effective.”

CASE STUDY:

YARA Birkeland “The most exciting project today is YARA Birkeland; it will be the ? rst unmanned autonomous vessel that we are going to deliver,” said Paulsen of Kongsberg. To achieve that there is still much testing, risk analysis that will lead to making the project a reality. YARA Birkeland will be the world’s ? rst fully electric and autonomous container ship, with zero emissions. Kongsberg is responsible for devel- opment and delivery of all key enabling technologies in- cluding the sensors and integration required for remote and autonomous ship operations, in addition to the elec- tric drive, battery and propulsion control systems. The de- sign for the innovative ship was done by Marin Teknikk, ? nalized in 2017. The vessel is scheduled to be delivered from Vard Brevik in ? rst quarter of 2020, and will gradu- ally move from manned operation to fully autonomous operation by 2022.

Yara Birkeland Main particulars

Length x Width x Depth 79.5 x 14.8 x 10.8 m

Draft (full/ballast): 6 m/3 m

Service speed: 6 knots

Max speed: 13 knots

Cargo capacity: 120 TEU

Deadweight: 3,200 mt

Propulsion system: Electric

Propellers: 2 Azimuth pods

Thrusters: 2 Tunnel thruster

Battery pack: 7 – 9 MWh www.marinelink.com 37

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