Autonomous Vessels – Unlocking The Future

Written by James Fanshawe CBE.

Autonomy in the post Covid environment – an opportunity waiting to happen? What impact will practices, which have had to be adapted in the Covid environment, have on the attitude and appetite for Automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Autonomy for the Maritime Sector?

It is difficult to imagine that we will ever have to think hard to remember which year Covid started, perhaps in the same way that we try and recall the year of 9/11. Experience tells us that the collective memory tends not to dwell on the difficult times and the years tend to blur into each other. When we reflect on the year 2020, I am not sure we will focus on the things we think we might, as the days of varying forms of indecision and uncertainty draw on and the nights draw in. If anything is certain, there is change in the wind. But what might this be and how will it affect maritime industries?

Ships are ships and they rely on people in one way or another. We are all having to examine and adapt our working practices to ensure that we can be ready for the post-Covid era, or, as a minimum, a time when we have learned to live with it. There will be an impact on every type of business, ashore and afloat. Will we ever see lines of open plan offices brimming with activity again?

In the maritime world there are already a smorgasbord of challenges which we have to accept must be addressed; meeting the UN sustainability development goals and targets; the advent of new technologies; developing regulation; changes to the demographic backdrop of the seafaring community; shifts in social aspirations; diversity; new fuel options; old ships in need of replacement as retrofitting is, for the most part, an unviable option; a continued, but adjusted demand for maritime trade; the list goes on.

It is important to examine the maritime constants. Top of the list is the sea. Climate change may give us a broader range of meteorological and oceanographic conditions but the requirement for ships to move freely and safely from one side of the globe to the other is unchanged and paramount. The sea is a harsh environment and we must recognise that accidents will happen. But there are ways we can reduce the chance of them occurring in the future. Regrettably, people are the greatest single factor in the chain of events which culminate in incidents happening.  

The facts speak for themselves. The following incidents occurred between 2015 and 2019: 2,734 hull and machinery damage, 1,817 Collisions, 1,663 Wrecked or Stranded, 1,084 Contacts, 903 Fires/explosions, 344 Founded, 26 War Loss/Hostilities and 3 crew members missing[1]. The overall desire to improve safety and become more efficient is never more necessary and we must find ways to achieve this.

“Covid this; Covid that” – there is an endless and overwhelming dialogue about where we are and what will change in the light of the pandemic experience. It has become an industry all of its own and making sense of it all has become increasingly difficult. The changes we have seen so far have primarily affected those working ashore and not afloat. Ships have continued to move around the globe, but it has been a real struggle to get crews to and from their vessels.  

Ashore, we have had to be innovative about extracting the information we need to maintain our basic professional services, with less people on whom to call. Distance working has had a major impact on us all. We are learning how to do our business remotely, often without either direct access to our many office IT systems or the ability to interact with colleagues and our global networks. In response, the software and teleconference experts are finding ever more innovative and intuitive ideas to bring out new systems which make our lives work more easily and efficiently within a sharply altered working environment. However, there is no substitute for personal interaction.

Realistically, what can we expect the experience of Covid-19 to change and where should we set the expectation management bar ? Will it be more of the same – a maritime status quo? Will there be a general sigh of relief that we can carry on as before? Or is there a real chance to shift the culture, to move forward and embrace the opportunities that technology offers for Automation, Artificial Intelligence and, in some cases, the development of autonomous, uncrewed vessels?

It must be acknowledged that there have been inevitable maritime casualties. The cruise liner business is the obvious example, but we should expect that it will return in due course to a certain degree in the same vein as commercial aviation will return when the restrictions on international movement are eased.

What are we likely to see in the PC (Post Covid) times? There is rising evidence that life will be different but is this just because we feel it should be, and will it actually happen? Matching expectations with reality will be tricky and will require strong leadership to adapt to the real and perceived desire for change. Many will return to their offices refreshed, having had time to think, research and plan – so often a missing component in our working lives. Some will acknowledge the benefits of spending more time in their home environments. Others will be leaping at the chance to revert to old routines. Many may find the transition back more difficult than they imagined and there will be a rather strange transition period back to freedom of movement. This may well impact on the willingness of individuals to want to volunteer to go away to sea in the first place.

In the maritime world, there is unlikely to be a single answer to what happens in the future. The reality will depend on a number of factors; types of vessels; their ages; the nature of their operations; the areas in which they sail; their hull and machinery; the inherently cautious approach to change in the maritime world; and finally the changing requirements of the human element - people.

On the positive side, if you believe that every potential threat can be turned into an opportunity, Covid can be seen as a potential gold mine. For example, the last mile logistics business has been turned on its head in the last few months. People expect to be able to order anything from their desks with less than ten clicks and for their orders to be delivered within hours of the final click. This is a real opportunity for the maritime world to plug some gaps. The current reliance on road haulage cannot be sustained in terms of economics, emissions, noise, or road infrastructure. We must think in a much more joined up multi-modal way. This should pave the way for far greater utility of maritime solutions.

The River Thames and the other great waterways provide the perfect opportunity for freight to be moved by water. The London market consolidation programme centred around Barking is an excellent example.  Short Sea and Inland Waterway capabilities provide solutions today waiting for exploitation.

Companies like Zulu Associates, the Anglo Belgian Shipping Company and Ocean Infinity, among a growing number of others around the world, are working hard to design and build a new generation of emission free autonomous commercial trading ships. These will operate on both open and inland waters, being monitored and controlled by their respective Remote Control Centres. BAE, SEA-KIT, L3Harris, Thales and Atlas and others are capitalising on the success of their earlier vessels, notably in the sectors of Oil and Gas, Defence, Security and Marine Scientific Research.  Put together this presents exciting times for the shipbuilding and related industries.

There is a lot going on and industry is taking a real lead to make it all happen. But there is still a need for a degree of a cultural shift away from conventional maritime thinking. Making sure  that ports are ready to accept this new breed of ships, within the overall regulatory framework, is an extremely important element of the success of maritime development. While it might appear that not much has been achieved in the last few months, the pace of technology has not been noticeably slowed down by the march of the pandemic. Many companies, particularly SMEs, have been quietly going about their business and will be poised to spring forward once the Covid-related tethers have been removed. There may well be a surge of new technologies emerging.

In any event, there will be a real opportunity to grasp the chance to develop and integrate Automation, AI, and Autonomy (the three A’s) further within the Maritime Sector. This will affect all ships, and Uncrewed Ships will certainly be at the heart of this process. It would be a good outcome for Covid-19 to have acted as a catalyst for the industry to make tangible progress to make life at sea safer and more innovative. We must take every opportunity to let technology provide the tools of the trade for all those who are connected with life at sea, particularly in the field of integrated logistics and remote access to onboard technical information.  

Lockdown has reminded me of being at sea years ago. Communications were extremely limited.  When we left the jetty, we were cut off without instant access to those who might support and advise us. We waited with bated breath for the ‘Mufax’ to give us a grainy weather chart and days would pass without updating the ship’s position while the stars and sun remained blanketed behind clouds. Flipping the coin, shore side authorities had to wait to receive information from the high seas.

These days, we expect and demand instant exchange of data; it has become the lifeblood of all business – maritime is no exception to this, and we need to process the ability to put a value on data. This sounds relatively simple and in many ways this assertion is correct. But life is never that easy. The complexities of moving data and information by any of the systems now available raise some important questions which need to be addressed. All aspects of cyber safety and security have spawned industries for those seeking to exploit weaknesses for their own illegal purposes, and for those trying to prevent cyber events from occurring while they go about their lawful business. As an example, safe navigation can no longer depend on the Global Positioning Systems we have grown to assume are infallible; they are not. Even electronic charts can be manipulated.

Drawing all these ideas together shows that there is a real opportunity to enhance safety at sea and to develop significantly more efficient maritime operations. But there are risks. It is essential that we take a risk-based and balanced approach if we are going to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the three A’s.

There is no question that the majority of ships will have crews and other people onboard in the future. There may be less mariners afloat, with greater monitoring and control of ships from ashore, but this does not remove the requirement for, and the application of, traditional seafaring skills. New skill sets are required, and this presents a challenge for all levels of education, training, and development.

Above all, young people must be encouraged to become engaged with everything that makes the maritime sector tick from the earliest age. As they are the group most comfortable with today’s technologies we must work hard to ensure that the profile of the shipping business can continue to attract the next generation in the future. We certainly cannot just rely on what has happened in the past and must be prepared to trust the information which is available to us.

James Fanshawe CBE 

 James chairs the UK’s Maritime Autonomous Systems Regulatory Working Group (MASRWG), which has released Codes for the safe operation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships. He is a member of the UK Maritime Autonomous Systems Steering Group and the MASG Council. Internationally, he is on the Strategic Advisory Group for the Autoship project and is the moderator for the UNECE work on Autonomation on Inland Waterways.

He is a Director of Zulu Associates and the Anglo Belgian Shipping Company. He is a Board advisor to SEA-KIT International and is the Director of Maritime Strategy for Drone Major Group.

[1] IHS Markit report ‘The State of Maritime Safety 2020’.