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January 2018

Rolls-Royce opens autonomous ship research centre in Finland

The new Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships includes a Remote and Autonomous Experience Space aimed at showcasing the autonomous ship technologies  that Rolls-Royce has already introduced, as well as those in the development stage.

February 2018

The city of Dubai gets its own cryptocurrency

The new cryptocurrency, called emCash, runs on its own blockchain and is designed for various financial transactions. emCash uses the latest blockchain technology and works as part of payment system called emWallet. The digital currency has varied advantages – faster processing, improved delivery time, less complexity and cost, to name a few. The city also has a shared platform, called Blockchain-as -a -Service.

China builds Asia’s first autonomous ship test area

China initiated construction of Asia’s first testing facility for autonomous vessels in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, Saturday. The Wanshan Marine Test Field is a 225 square nautical mile zone, where operators can test autonomous steering and obstacle avoidance. The test field is the largest in the world.

March 2018

Shipping cryptocurrency sees first transaction

Hong Kong-based blockchain firm 300cubits announced successful completion of the first trial shipment in its smart contract deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. The shipment consists of two 40-foot high cube container boxes going from Malaysia to Brazil.

EU approves Maersk, IBM blockchain venture

The European Commission approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed creation of a joint venture between IBM and Maersk. The joint venture focused on providing secure methods for conducting global trade using blockchain technology.

April 2018

World’s biggest automated container terminal opens in Shanghai

China’s new fully-automated port terminal opened in Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port, becoming the world’s biggest automated container terminal, boosting the country’s efforts to be at the forefront of global trade. The terminal is able to move 6.3 million TEUs a year, while the whole port can handle more than 40 million.

May 2018

EU GDPR becomes effective

On May 25th the EU GDPR came into force requiring all not only maritime industry but all organizations in the EU, as well as those that deal with data related to EU residents,  to comply with new data privacy laws.

Robot performed inspections on Gulf of Mexico oil platform

At BP’s Thunder Horse oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, a robot called Maggie performed the dangerous job of inspection by using magnetic tracks to move through the pipes connecting the oil facility to the sea floor. Maggie by using magnetic crawlers, moves through rigs, platforms, and pipelines leveraging ultrasonic test devices and high-definition cameras.

June 2018

EU Parliament approves new rules for drones’ operation

On June 12th of 2018, MEPs approved an agreement between Council and Parliament negotiators in November 2017, to ensure a common level of safety for drones

August 2018

MOL introduces virtual reality in ship visits

MOL announced the introduction of the Vessel View VR, a virtual reality system that enables virtual ship visits. Vessel View VR provides access to information that until now has been limited in conventional ship visits. The virtual ship visit is to be used into the car carrier ‘Beluga Ace’.

September 2018

US's President Donald Trump signs America's National Cyber Strategy.

America’s National Cyber Strategy stated that it will use all available means to keep America safe from cyber threats, while it mentions that cyber security in the maritime sector is of particular concern.

Cosco, Navis launch digital Center of Excellence

The Center of Excellence aims at enabling CSP to implement the projects themselves, reducing the time to deliver services. The CoE will also be able to transfer tasks that are currently executed onsite in projects, to be performed remotely.

EMSA launches new marine casualty information platform

The new European Marine Casualty Information Platform, EMCIP, went live on 3 September following 18 months of development and testing. The newly developed system offers enhanced reporting tools which have been implemented through internet technologies.

October 2018

First International Maritime Cyber Centre of Excellence opens in Singapore

Finnish technology group Wärtsilä announced the opening of an International Maritime Cyber Centre of Excellence (IMCCE) in Singapore, on 16 October2018. The IMCCE is the first of its type for the marine industry, founded by Wärtsilä and Templar Executives, to provide a focal point for the industry to help drive the cyber awareness and response to cyber incidents. The IMCCE consists of a Maritime Cyber Emergency Response Team (MCERT) and a cyber academy.

EU publishes draft report on European Maritime Single Window

On 15 October, the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism published the draft report on the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation creating a European Maritime Single Window environment, which came out on 17 May. The report focused on the harmonisation of data elements and data sets and supported the cooperation between customs and maritime authorities at both national and Union level.

November 2018

Kongsberg, KPMG launch cyber security partnership

Kongsberg and KPMG collaborated to advance cyber security solutions for the industry's operations. In the future, the partners expect the industry to adopt new digital solutions, which would have a major impact on operations and current business models in the maritime sector.

Ocean Alliance, Yang Ming collaborate for blockchain platform

On November 6, nine leading ocean carriers and terminal operators signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a consortium to develop the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), an open digital platform based on distributed ledger technology. The participants include ocean carriers CMA CGM, COSCO SHIPPING Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming.

ISO issues first set of global standards for drones

The voluntary standards, which resulted from a three-year work, include operational requirements for drones, on safety and security, flying "etiquette" around no-fly zones, geo-fencing technology that can impede flights in restricted areas, flight logging requirements, as well as training and maintenance standards.

December 2018

3rd version of the 'Guidelines on Cyber Security onboard Ships” is out

The new edition provided more information to assist shipping companies conduct proper risk assessments and include measures in their safety management systems to protect ships from cyber-incidents. Specifically, a new dedicated annex provided measures that all companies should consider implementing to address cyber risk management in an approved SMS.