Towards unmanned cargo vessels for more sustainable maritime transport
For environmental reasons, oceanic cargo ships are travelling more slowly, thus increasing the ship population. At the same time, numbers of available mariners are declining. The solution may lie in partially autonomous cargo vessels, which also offer commercial and environmental advantages. The EU-funded MUNIN (Maritime unmanned navigation through intelligence in networks) project worked to develop a technical concept for such ships and assess its feasibility. Project partners developed a technical concept for the operation of an unmanned merchant vessel during the deep-sea part of its voyage. The ship is autonomously operated by new systems aboard the vessel. However, the monitoring and controlling functionalities are performed by an operator on land. They also assessed the concept's technical, economic and legal feasibility. The MUNIN team developed prototypes for the subsystems, including both on-board and onshore modules. The systems are not intended for use in harbours or congested shipping lanes. An advanced sensor module automatically looks out for traffic, obstacles and weather conditions surrounding the vessel by continuously combining sensor data from existing navigational systems with modern daylight and infrared cameras. A shore control centre continuously monitors and controls the vessel. Other units include an autonomous navigation system with a predefined yet flexible voyage plan, and an autonomous engine and monitoring control system. The latter monitors and controls all engine room components and serves as a transceiver for the shore control centre. Thanks to MUNIN, autonomous shipping is technically feasible. The development should yield cost savings, reduce operational expenses and environmental impact, and avoid the problems of mariners being at sea for long periods.
Keywords
Unmanned cargo vessels, maritime transport, MUNIN, unmanned navigation, autonomous shipping
