The First Unmanned and Fully-automated Vessel for Offshore Operations
The UK’s Automated Ships (an M Subs subsidiary) and Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build the world’s first unmanned and fully-automated vessel for offshore operations. In January 2017, Automated Ships will contract the ‘Hrönn’, which will be designed and built in Norway in cooperation with Kongsberg. Sea trials will take place in Norway’s newly designated automated vessel test bed in the Trondheim fjord and will be conducted under the auspices of DNV GL and the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA). The Hrönn will ultimately be classed and flagged, respectively.
Currently, only small unmanned boats are being utilised for near shore operations but there are no technical limitations to constructing large, unmanned and automated systems. The only impediments are regulatory, but with the participation of DNV GL and the NMA, and Norwegian and UK companies and institutions, it will be possible to rapidly and at low-cost be the first to market with a full-size unmanned ship.
Hrönn is a light-duty, offshore utility ship servicing the offshore energy, scientific/hydrographic and offshore fish-farming industries. Its intended uses include but are not limited to: Survey, ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) Launch & Recovery, light intermodal cargo delivery and delivery to offshore installations, and open-water fish farm support. The vessel can also be utilised as a standby vessel, able to provide fire fighting support to an offshore platform working in cooperation with manned vessels. Automated Ships Ltd currently in discussion with several end-users that will act as early-adopters and to establish a base-rate for operations and secure contracts for Hrönn offshore, in the near future. The vessel will initially operate and function primarily as a remotely piloted ship, in man-in-the-Loop control mode, but will transition to fully automated, and ultimately autonomous operations as the control algorithms are developed concurrently during remotely piloted operations.
Automated Ships will be the primary integrator, project manager and ship-owner. Kongsberg’s role in the project is to deliver all major marine equipment necessary for the design, construction and operation of Hrönn. Hrönn is expected to be built by Fjellstrand AS, a Norwegian shipyard with a long history of building aluminium fast ferries in addition to a number of steel offshore vessels and aluminium work boats. The vessel is expected to be operational in 2018.