OCT 19, 2023

Movin'On Impact - Autonomous shipping on short sea

A recap of the Antwerp seminar on 19 October

Autonomous shipping on short sea

Where lies the common interest between the maritime transport business and on land mobility solutions? To connect these dots, MCA is partnering with Movin'On, the world's leading ecoystem of strategic anticipation and co-innovation for sustainable mobility (created and inspired by Michelin in 2017).

On Thursday, the 19th of October, the last topic about Autonomous shipping on short sea was brought to the table.

Visit to Seafar

What better way to start this afternoon on autonomous shipping than a visit to the Shore Control Center of Seafar Remote Navigation, zooming in on vessel autonomy and remote pilotage?

Our participants were guided to this independent ship management company, offering services to operate unmanned and crew-reduced vessels for ship owners and shipping companies.

State of art in autonomy

But what are today’s gaps and gains in autonomous shipping? Ali Anwar from IMEC showed interesting examples, but also explained how technology is ahead of regulations and why further technological improvements still need to be made.

Peter Shobayo from University of Antwerp dived deeper into the topic of port logistics and short sea shipping.

Workshop

Afterwards, a workshop commenced: How can we deliver autonomy to ships beyond the current inland shipping? Autonomy in the maritime is becoming crucial, not only to address labour force requirements of future vessels, but also to enhance safety in complex vessel operations and reduce stress on crew members.

This central question in the workshop through a series of sub-questions:

Can we, as key players in short sea operations, define specific use cases in which autonomy can offer tangible benefits and identify synergies across various sectors?
What are the primary legal and policy challenges that need to be addressed for autonomy in short sea operations?
What infrastructure is required to support short sea operations?