Autonomous Ships for the Supply Chain

Improving supply chains

Autonomous Electric Container Ship Completes First Trip

Interesting Engineering,Ameya Paleja, November 22, 2021

The world's first all-electric and emission-free container ship completed its 8.7-mile maiden voyage from Porsgrunn, Norway, to the Norwegian port of Brevik. Next year, the Yara Birkeland will replace up to 40,000 annual truck trips for Norwegian fertilizer producer Yara, reducing the firm’s carbon emissions by as much as 1,000 tons per year. The Birkeland is powered by a 7-megawatt/hour battery and can travel at speeds of up to 15 knots (about 17 mph/28kph). Reuters reported the ship will eventually be able to load and offload cargo, charge its battery, and navigate autonomously.

Robotic Ships

 Looked at robotic ships for a supply chain project now sometime ago there and were movements then.   See the tag re 'autonomous ships'.   IBM was involved.  Then what seemed like a lapse.  Now are seeing more movement again.  Interesting here the claim that pandemic was pushing this, not sure I agree.

The Robot Ships Are Coming … Eventually  in Wired.

As the pandemic fuels demand for less contact and fewer sailors, shipping companies turn to AI-assisted navigation.

SOMETIME NEXT APRIL, a 50-foot-long autonomous ship will shake loose the digital bonds of its human controllers, scan the horizon with radar, and set a course westward across the Atlantic. The Mayflower Autonomous Ship won’t be taking commands from a human captain like the first Mayflower did during its crossing back in 1620. Instead it will get orders from an “AI captain” built by programmers at IBM.   .... " 

Autonomous Ship Use Expanding

Continued look at autonomous maritime shipping to decrease costs of large scale supply chains.

Sea Machines raises $15 million for autonomous ship navigation
Kyle Wiggers
@Kyle_L_Wiggers in Venturebeat

Autonomous vessel software and systems provider Sea Machines Robotics today closed a $15 million funding round to accelerate deployment of its technologies in the unmanned naval boat and ship market. Sea Machines boldly claims this is one of the largest rounds for a tech company tackling marine and maritime use cases.

Self-steering vessels aren’t a new idea — but they are gaining steam. Earlier this year, IBM and Promare — a U.K.-based marine research and exploration charity — trialed a prototype of an AI-powered maritime navigation system ahead of a September 6th venture to send a ship across the Atlantic Ocean. In Norway, a crewless cargo ship called the Yara Birkeland is expected to go into commercial operation later in 2020. And Rolls-Royce previously demonstrated a fully autonomous passenger ferry in Finland and announced a partnership with Intel as part of a plan to bring self-guided cargo ships to seas by 2025.  ... " 

Autonomous Ships Move Forward

Yet larger examples of autonomy in the supply chain.

How Europe's Busiest Port is Helping Make Autonomous Ships a Reality 
NBC News
By Linda Givetash

Dutch startup Captain AI is developing autonomous ships to replace traditional crewed vessels. The company is engineering self-driving boats and ships using a high-tech port patrol ship, deep learning algorithms, and a computer simulator designed to train captains. In 2017, Captain AI successfully demonstrated a self-driving version of one of Rotterdam's popular water taxis. This summer, the company will send the Floating Lab Rotterdam, a port authority ship, out to sea without a skipper at the helm. The Floating Lab Rotterdam is equipped with a digital GPS system, which provides more accurate location readings than standard GPS, as well as sensors that monitor and control the engine and steering.  ... " 

Autonomous Cargo Ships Coming

Electrically Powered. But how they will address dangers like still common piracy is unclear.

The world’s first autonomous cargo ship will launch next year  By Duncan Riley in SiliconAngle. 

 The world’s first autonomous cargo ship is planned to be launched in 2018, as a company in Norway said Saturday that it has committed to build and deploy one.

Two companies, Yara International ASA and Kongsberg Gruppen, have joined forces to build the “Yara Birkeland,” a container vessel that will cart fertilizer on a 37-mile route from a production facility to a port in Norway. The vessel will have a capacity of 150 containers and will be electrically powered, meaning that it will also produce zero emissions.  .... "