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REGULARS
NORWAY SPEARHEADS GREEN SHIP AUTOMATION
Norway is at the forefront of a port automation project which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of waterborne transport, writes Anne-Marie Causer
Photo: Port of Trondheim
Funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme and coordinated by SINTEF Ocean in Norway, the three-year 'Advanced, Efficient and Green Intermodal Systems' (AEGIS) project started on 1 June.
It will focus on integrating smaller ships, inland transport and short-sea shipping with larger terminals to create a new and more competitive European transport system, alongside reducing road congestion, noise and dust pollution and incorporating sustainable propulsion.
AUTONOMOUS SHIPS
“Autonomous ships combined with port automation is the one of the keys to our future waterborne transport systems,” says Ørnulf Jan Rødseth, secretary of the International Network for Autonomous Ships.
“End-user services will be much improved, regularity and frequency can be increased and this with no increase in costs.”
AEGIS uses test cases located in Northern Europe which represent typical inter-European transports that need to be linked to local distribution systems.
Case A is led by North Sea Container Line in cooperation with the Port of Trondheim in Norway.
It uses small cargo shuttles to link coastal container ships to rural and urban destinations in the region. This saves time for the larger ships and adds flexibility and frequency with the shuttles.
Case B is led by DFDS and will link RORO short sea services in BeNeLux to inland waterways using a similar concept to Case A.
Case C is led by Port of Aalborg in cooperation with Port of Vordingborg, both located in Denmark, and will examine how existing small and medium sized ports can use automation to facilitate the transfer of cargo from trucks to sea.
At the same time as the test cases are progressing Kalmar and MacGregor, both part of Cargotec, will develop new solutions for cargo handling in ports and on vessels. Grieg Connect will provide corresponding solutions for digital integration and automation.
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
"AEGIS is a project that supports our strategy on port developments, sustainability and increased use of waterborne transport," says Terje Meisler, head of maritime at the Port of Trondheim. "For us it is particularly important that the project develops concepts for smaller and more flexible vessels and includes digitalisation as well as a complete logistics solution, including port operations."
As a country, Norway itself is throwing its weight behind research on autonomous ships.
For example, the Norwegian Research Council's NTNU-led project Safe Autonomous Ships (SFI Autoship) is one of 22 research establishments in the country collectively seen as a centres for research-driven innovation.
More than NOK 200 million has been made available for research over the next eight years, to foster closer collaboration between business and researchers on the future of autonomous shipping.
SFI Autoship itself brings together over 20 partners from the Norwegian maritime cluster, including end users, product and service providers, research institutes, universities and authorities.
The centre is led by the Department of Technical Cybernetics at NTNU, but SINTEF is also on the team as the largest research partner.
Partners also include Kongsberg Gruppen, DNV GL, Equinor, G2 Ocean, Grieg Star, NCL, Gard, Torghatten, Trondheim Municipality and MacGregor.
Together the partners will develop new knowledge, methods, tools, prototypes and technology geared towards the Norwegian maritime industry.
Examples of end-user needs are Equinor's desire to use autonomous surface vessels to conduct marine operations on the Norwegian continental shelf and G2 Ocean's desire for increased automation for its large seagoing bulk carriers.
NCL wants to use autonomous vessels to transport goods along the Norwegian coast and Trondheim Municipality wants to explore the use of small autonomous passenger ferries as an alternative to urban waterway bridges.
8 Norway has long
