Mr Peter Due, Director Autonomy, Global Sales & Marketing, Kongsberg Maritime highlights that embracing the future with technology is imperative for the shipping industry more than ever before which is currently in a transitional period. He predicts that most ships in the future will still be manned ships, however, given that there is more acceptance towards automation, the regulatory challenges for autonomous ships need to be addressed.
SAFETY4SEA: Tell us a few words about your organization. Do you have any new developments/ or any new projects on the pipeline that you would like to share with the rest of the industry?
Peter Due: There is one project in particular that I would like to share. We have received a contract for a study of a zero emissions solution crossing the Oslo fjord where distributors are looking into how they can improve their logistics also on the sustainable side. So, together with them, we are developing a logistics solution which includes electric trucks taking it from their warehouse down to the port. There will be autonomous truck masters taking the trailers onboard a self-propelled barge, which is fully electric, a zero emissions solution crossing the Oslo Fjord to the other side. Also, there will be electric trucks from there to the distribution hub on the west coast of the fjord. They have not taken the decision yet to invest in the project, but we have received a contract for a feed study and now we are looking at how we can make this happen.
S4S: What will be the key smart shipping challenges within the next years?
P.D.: The major challenges today are within legislation, getting rules and regulations in place because the technology has matured over the years, but also there is now public acceptance. We are accepting self-driving cars and in general we have more acceptance towards a higher degree of automation, but I think on the regulatory side we have the major challenges.
S4S: What sort of innovations do you think that will top the list and shape the things to come?
P.D.: What we need to look at in logistics is the cargo handling from one means of transportation to another. That is where the financial bottleneck exists. Therefore, it is essential to find good solutions for transferring the cargo from one carrier to the next.
S4S: Autonomous ships are the big change everyone is talking about in shipping. What kind of impact do you think that will have on the industry?
P.D.: When it comes to autonomous ships they have created a huge interest, as we have seen with the Yara Birkeland and shipping is in a transitional period. But not all ships will be autonomous. Most ships in the future will still be manned ships but if we are looking at the technology and the spinoff from the development, the things we can implement on the existing fleet for a more sustainable future, with decision support for the crew, energy management where we can use sensors and big data to optimize their operation, that is where we will have the big benefits.
S4S: What is your key message to industry stakeholders in order to prepare for a more digital future?
P.D.: The key message would be to embrace technology and not be afraid of it. It creates so many possibilities and what we are seeing now is that a lot of these things are new but they are evolving and they are improving. So embracing the future with technology is the key message.
View herebelow the video Interview with Peter Due,Director Autonomy, Global Sales & Marketing, Kongsberg Maritime at SMM 2018, September 4-7, Hamburg, Germany:
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
