First North Sea autonomous manoeuvring trials

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A series of pioneering autonomous operation trials for a Damen Fast Crew Supplier 2610 ‘Twin Axe’ outfitted with collision avoidance technology have taken place in the North Sea.

'SeaZip 3'

‘SeaZip 3’ took part in several nautical scenarios to test its collision avoidance abilities. Credit: Netherlands Maritime Technology

SeaZip Offshore Services’ SeaZip 3 took part in several nautical scenarios to determine how it would interact with seagoing traffic on 19 and 20 March and is the first ship to carry out a fully autonomous test on the North Sea. The trials took place about five nautical miles off the coast of Den Helder in the Netherlands and are part of the Joint Industry Project Autonomous Shipping, a two-year research & innovation initiative focusing on autonomous operations of seagoing vessels. Launched in 2017, the project has 17 partners.

Marnix Krikke, innovation director at Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT) and leader of the project, said: “A total of 11 scenarios were run in which SeaZip 3 interacted with two other vessels, Octans, a training vessel of the Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz and Guardian, an Emergency Towage Vessel operated by The Netherlands Coastguard.”

Research-backed

He added that the nautical scenarios are the outcome of research by Technical University of Delft, MARIN and TNO, and were first tested in the MARIN simulator centre in Wageningen.

The trials involved an autonomous system, provided by Robosys Automation, which connected to the onboard autopilot and machinery control system.

While the trials were successful and provide input for an autonomous shipping roadmap, it was concluded that further development of autonomous systems is needed, to cope with complex marine traffic situations in a more efficient way.

By Rebecca Jeffrey