Kongsberg Maritime has successfully completed the autonomous operation of Eidsvaag Pioner, a coastal cargo ship, in Norway.
The demonstration was carried out over 13 hours and involved the vessel Eidsvaag Pioner completing a voyage outside the coast of Kristiansund on the northwest coast of Norway. The ship undocked from the port of Averøy, sailed to the world’s first ocean fish-farm, and back to port again, a journey of about 160 nautical miles in total.
It involved a mix of remote and autonomous operations during different stages of the voyage. For reasons of safety and current regulations, crew members have also been on board the ship during the test cruises.
The first part of the demonstration included automatic undocking from the quay at Averøy. The autonomous technology then took control to navigate and manoeuvre out of the harbour and further out to open sea. There the ship navigated a route between several islands and avoided other sea traffic, before arriving at the offshore fish farm Ocean Farm 1, owned by Salmar.
Various manoeuvres were then carried out using the Dynamic Positioning (DP) system. The vessel next returned to port, again navigating open sea and congested seaways before it automatically docked again. The entire operation was monitored and occasionally controlled remotely by the shore-based captain and engineer.
The Eidsvaag Pioner, is one of the two vessels that are equipped for remote-operated and autonomous transport demonstrations for the AUTOSHIP project, which is part of Horizon 2020, an EU research programme.
Owned by the Eidsvaag shipping company, the Eidsvaag Pioner operates along the Norwegian coast and in fjord areas where it carries fish feed to ocean fish-farms.
This was an opportunity to show the world that remote and autonomous technologies can be successfully deployed on a general cargo vessel, carrying out a range of operational aspects of a typical voyage.
… said Geir Håøy, CEO of KONGSBERG
During the demonstration, a number of established and new KONGSBERG technologies were deployed, and included Auto-undocking and Autodocking, Situational Awareness System, Autonomous Navigation System, Intelligent Machinery System, Connectivity & Cyber Security System, Remote Operations Centre and Dynamic Positioning. Cloud-based communication systems and advanced simulations have also been involved to test and ensure that the vessel operated safely and optimally.
