The DFFAS (Designing the Future of Full Autonomous Ship) project comprising 30 Japanese companies including NYK, has completed the construction of a fleet operation center (FOC) in Makuhari, Chiba city.
This center will provide onshore support for crewless maritime autonomous surface ships and is part of a system that covers the functions needed for operation of crewless autonomous ships.
The DFFAS project is sponsored by the Joint Technological Development Programme for the Demonstration of Unmanned Ships under the administration of the Nippon Foundation. The project aims to conduct a successful crewless maritime autonomous surface ship demonstration trial in order to promote the practical use of these ships by 2025.
The FOC will be equiped with operators to provide support from shore by gathering information from the ship, along with information existing on shore.
They will also monitor and analyze the operational status of the ship from the FOC. Additionally, the operator will be able to remotely navigate the vessel in case of an emergency.
The DFFAS project aspires to realize a domestic coastal shipping business supported by crewless maritime autonomous surface ships, thus contributing to solving the issue of crew shortages by coastal shipping businesses.
The project will also work toward the standardization of technology and the establishment of systems and infrastructure through open collaboration.
More specifically, the project plans to conduct a demonstration trial in February 2022, in order to simulate the actual operation of crewless maritime autonomous surface ships in congested waters using a domestic coastal container ship toward the realization of the full-scale commercialization of these autonomous ships by 2025.
