South Korean shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine has signed a MoU with compatriot shipbuilding giant Samsung Heavy on smart ship technology. Under the MoU, the two companies will collaborate in the research, development and innovation in the field of smart ship solutions.
The South Korean shipbuilding sector is moving towards smart shipping, joining projects that include Industry 4.0 technologies, aiming to new smart ships that will achieve fuel cost reduction, autonomous navigation and long-distance remote control operations.
During Marintec China trade fair in Shanghai, DNV GL inked a cooperation agreement with Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited (GSI) to launch a project to enhance welding non-destructive testing (NDT) efficiency through the automatic detection and assessment of radiography testing (RT) digital images.
SHIPLYS (Ship life cycle software solutions) is a three-year project that began in September 2016. The project is in response to needs of SME naval architects, shipbuilders and ship-owners, who need to improve their capability to reduce the time and costs of design and production.
The European Maritime Technology Sector needs more significant investments in research, development and innovation for the further development of digitalisation, automation and autonomy in the shipbuilding processes, to secure its competitiveness, as well as to cope with its societal challenges, SEA Europe said in a new statement.
Some of the biggest European shipbuilders announced that they have created a new cooperative initiative to develop a connected vessel platform. This project is named Code Kilo and aims to address the digitalisation challenges of various stakeholders. Specifically, EUROYARDS members – Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Damen Shipyards Group, Fincantieri, Lürssen, Meyer Werft, Naval Group and Navantia – collaborated to improve data management solutions and standards.
China has tested the world’s first armed amphibious drone boat with success. Built by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group, under China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), the drone ship ‘Marine Lizard’, passed delivery checks and left the factory on April 8. In its ship form, ‘Marine Lizard’ is a trimaran fueled by a diesel-powered hydrojet and is able to reach a maximum speed of 50 knots while also being stealth.
Huntington Ingalls Industries’s Newport News Shipbuilding division will cooperate with 3D Systems to create additive manufacturing technologies expected to facilitate the adoption of metal 3-D printing in the naval shipbuilding industry. The collaboration will support future qualification and certification programs to implement this manufacturing technology for the US Navy.
