Let me digress a little from to the coronavirus in china. With the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of people have been worried about how to get goods from China as well as send goods to china via cargo. Analysts have predicted that there might be an economic recession due to the outbreak and the Chinese government in other to set things back to normal have asked citizens to go back to work but yet the economy seems paused. Let’s agree that the citizens decides to go back to work, how many foreign persons will risk their lives on a cargo to get goods from china when there is a possibility that they might contact the virus. This is the point you wish everything can be automated from production to shipping, as well as transporting. With that I guess automated shipping would have been of help to transport goods from china to any other of the world.
With the advancement in camera technology, sensors, electromechanical actuators and satellite technology, do you think it is possible to have a fully automated commercial and cargo ship. According to a report on wall street journal, A Norwegian Ship, Yara Birkeland a fully automated ship under construction is supposed to be completed this year and fully operational as well. The ship is going to be the first crewless ship using GPS, Radar, Cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence to navigate its way in the sea as well as maneuver its way around other boats and ships, as well as dock itself when it arrives its destination. This ship is going to be electrical and there will be no expense on fuel as well as paying crew members. Other company like Rolls Royce as well as automated ship ltd are also working on automated ships.
Just like Tesla, Mercedes, Uber and other companies are making automated cars for land transportation, soon it will be a reality to have an automated ship. In the automated ship, the ship executes navigations from one waypoint to another according to the defined plan. Unlike having a lot of crew members in a ship, the automated ship will only have the operator at the control room who only watches the ship move while the ship controls itself. The operator will be able to know the location of the ship, where it is heading, current speed, and key information from situation awareness systems.
Why Automated Ships are needed
Like the revolution that took place when diesel fueled ships displaced coal ships, so will the automated ships be displacing crew ships. One big reason why shipping companies will want this technological revolution is to lower operation cost especially that of crew wages and allowances as well as living cost on the ship.
For cargo ships, the more loads the ship can carry, the more revenue that can be made and with no crew onboard, there will be more space for more goods which means higher revenue. Also the use of electricity will reduce the emission caused by fuel in ships and at same time will eliminate cost spent on fuel.
In Conclusion
This is going to be a very welcoming technology in the shipping industry but a few things will have to be addressed before it finally comes through. Things like government regulations, insurance of goods, Safety in navigation in cases of weather related issues and pirates, cyber security.