Periodic Reporting for period 3 - AUTOSHIP (Autonomous Shipping Initiative for European Waters)
Reporting period: 2021-12-01 to 2023-11-30
AUTOSHIP has successfully enhanced the State of the Art of autonomous vessels in the coastal short-sea shipping and inland waterways segments.
In fact, the project has successfully realised two real demonstrators at TRL 7, after developing and integrating Key Enabling Technologies both on the vessels and in their remote-control centres on the shore.
The scope of the project has enveloped:
- Developing, testing, and integrating the KETs, the simulators as well as the connectivity blueprints of the autonomous ships’ infrastructure of the future;
- Completing the two use-cases characterizations to help defining new logistics business models, considering the advantages of the NGAS technology;
- Defining the regulatory framework and bringing it forward with a direct interaction with relevant authorities;
- Advancing in knowledge and training for academia and practitioners;
- Completing cost-benefit analyses to ensure that every societal and environmental effect is considered into a Decision Support System for shipowners and a roadmap for the adoption of the NGAS and further development is prepared for decision makers.
AUTOSHIP has provided a far better awareness of the technology capability, residual risks and perspectives from the technical, economic as well as regulatory perspectives, contributing to further advancement of all these aspects.
In fact, the project has successfully realised two real demonstrators at TRL 7, after developing and integrating Key Enabling Technologies both on the vessels and in their remote-control centres on the shore.
The scope of the project has enveloped:
- Developing, testing, and integrating the KETs, the simulators as well as the connectivity blueprints of the autonomous ships’ infrastructure of the future;
- Completing the two use-cases characterizations to help defining new logistics business models, considering the advantages of the NGAS technology;
- Defining the regulatory framework and bringing it forward with a direct interaction with relevant authorities;
- Advancing in knowledge and training for academia and practitioners;
- Completing cost-benefit analyses to ensure that every societal and environmental effect is considered into a Decision Support System for shipowners and a roadmap for the adoption of the NGAS and further development is prepared for decision makers.
AUTOSHIP has provided a far better awareness of the technology capability, residual risks and perspectives from the technical, economic as well as regulatory perspectives, contributing to further advancement of all these aspects.
AUTOSHIP’s final period has been characterised by the effort to plan and execute the demos while finalising the remaining research work, stakeholders’ engagement, and business studies. A significant milestone for autonomous ships in Europe has, in fact, been achieved with the demonstrators’ events and test runs of the Eidsvaag Pioneer (Alesund, Norway, May 25th, 2023) and Zulu04 (Bornem, Belgium, June 1st, 2023) respectively in WP4 and WP5.
On the research side, WP7 concluded its activities during M42. In this reporting period, the gaps previously identified during WP2 in the existing legal, regulatory and liability frameworks for the two AUTOSHIP use cases (the IWW barge and the SSS cargo ship) were addressed by a comprehensive review of the international pertinent literature by the regulatory framework analysis as well as by looking at relevant autonomous ship projects’ outcomes. Four degrees of autonomy were considered as identified in the Regulatory Scoping Exercising (RSE). The WP has also delved into the socio-economic and environmental aspects of autonomy. The impacts of autonomous ships were in fact evaluated, and a Cost Benefit Analysis was elaborated by selecting appropriate KPIs consistent with those defined in previous reporting periods. These KPIs consider the GHG, pollution, noise, as well as better load capacity and operational benefits for both demonstrators (SSS and IWW). These are compared to well-defined reference cases, including a comparison with trucks and highlighting the synergy with novel ships' green designs.
As per the business perspective in WP8, the high-level roadmap for the realisation of large-scale intercontinental autonomous maritime logistics was completed in this period. Based on the scope of this roadmap, four main segments that are essential components of the large-scale intercontinental logistic chain have been identified: Inland waterways, sheltered water shuttles, shortsea (international and national long distance), and deep-sea.
On the other hand, AUTOSHIP has successfully contributed to the work of IMO for crucial aspects such as terminology and definitions for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS).
Concerning stakeholders’ engagement and go-to-market perspectives, in WP9 the beneficiaries have kept performing several dissemination activities, communicating the project results through participation in conferences, publication of papers, organisation of events, and elaborating different AUTOSHIP videos and documentaries. A joint effort in the project has identified numerous assets, their IP set-ups and their progressive introduction on the market, which will require regulation and further technical steps to fully exploit the potential of the technology over the next decade. Many activities have involved external advisory groups and other stakeholders, along with the outreach strategy and impact assessment defined in WP6.
As further element of its success, AUTOSHIP has also actively collaborated with the sisters' projects AEGIS (GA 859992) and MOSES (GA 861678), while introducing to the community follow-up initiatives like the SEAMLESS project (GA 101096923), to create new synergies and contribute to the next generation research and innovation in the autonomous ship industry. A final AUTOSHIP event was held on November 7th, 2023, at the Europort Exhibition in Rotterdam Ahoy (NL), in collaboration with the sister projects AEGIS and MOSES, where technology, business cases and regulation were addressed in thematic sessions.
On the research side, WP7 concluded its activities during M42. In this reporting period, the gaps previously identified during WP2 in the existing legal, regulatory and liability frameworks for the two AUTOSHIP use cases (the IWW barge and the SSS cargo ship) were addressed by a comprehensive review of the international pertinent literature by the regulatory framework analysis as well as by looking at relevant autonomous ship projects’ outcomes. Four degrees of autonomy were considered as identified in the Regulatory Scoping Exercising (RSE). The WP has also delved into the socio-economic and environmental aspects of autonomy. The impacts of autonomous ships were in fact evaluated, and a Cost Benefit Analysis was elaborated by selecting appropriate KPIs consistent with those defined in previous reporting periods. These KPIs consider the GHG, pollution, noise, as well as better load capacity and operational benefits for both demonstrators (SSS and IWW). These are compared to well-defined reference cases, including a comparison with trucks and highlighting the synergy with novel ships' green designs.
As per the business perspective in WP8, the high-level roadmap for the realisation of large-scale intercontinental autonomous maritime logistics was completed in this period. Based on the scope of this roadmap, four main segments that are essential components of the large-scale intercontinental logistic chain have been identified: Inland waterways, sheltered water shuttles, shortsea (international and national long distance), and deep-sea.
On the other hand, AUTOSHIP has successfully contributed to the work of IMO for crucial aspects such as terminology and definitions for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS).
Concerning stakeholders’ engagement and go-to-market perspectives, in WP9 the beneficiaries have kept performing several dissemination activities, communicating the project results through participation in conferences, publication of papers, organisation of events, and elaborating different AUTOSHIP videos and documentaries. A joint effort in the project has identified numerous assets, their IP set-ups and their progressive introduction on the market, which will require regulation and further technical steps to fully exploit the potential of the technology over the next decade. Many activities have involved external advisory groups and other stakeholders, along with the outreach strategy and impact assessment defined in WP6.
As further element of its success, AUTOSHIP has also actively collaborated with the sisters' projects AEGIS (GA 859992) and MOSES (GA 861678), while introducing to the community follow-up initiatives like the SEAMLESS project (GA 101096923), to create new synergies and contribute to the next generation research and innovation in the autonomous ship industry. A final AUTOSHIP event was held on November 7th, 2023, at the Europort Exhibition in Rotterdam Ahoy (NL), in collaboration with the sister projects AEGIS and MOSES, where technology, business cases and regulation were addressed in thematic sessions.
While the two demonstrators have established the EU state of the art for this technology, AUTOSHIP has contributed to the understanding that there are robust business cases to be exploited by the shipowners, that the whole value-chain must now be involved and that the regulators need to keep the pace.
Moreover, AUTOSHIP has evolved the value-proposition of autonomous vessels, showing how autonomous vessels can progressively support decarbonisation, increase safety, and tackle crew shortages in the industry.
From a business perspective, autonomous vessels may impact differently on various shipping sectors depending on their initial conditions. In this sense, IWW and SSS scenarios are quite different and provide a nice complementary pair. As a simplified explanation, where current businesses struggle to renew and stay alive – let alone expanding – autonomous ships will provide a unique leverage to make it viable, while on more robust businesses, autonomous shipping will still improve economic performances. New businesses in the field of remote services or infrastructure management are likely to be developed.
Impact over sustainability: Autonomous shipping development is compatible with sustainability and the need to build greener ships in multiple ways, supporting a change in logistics and organisational measures (including anchor time, mission speed/consumption). On a single ship perspective, the unmanned vessels will also ease electric drivetrains on smaller and slower vessels. A new design with less room for crew and generally lower OPEX enables using these resources for green technology investments. These aspects can push for fleet renewal by decreasing investment costs and improving business cases.
Road Decongestion: economic, environmental and safety issues are the most relevant dimensions to be included in the design and the business case definition of autonomous vessels at an early stage. Logistic operators, experts in regulations and authorities in the consortium have provided a view over operational, liabilities and legal requirements. On the other hand, decision support tools have been completed. Former macro analyses demonstrate that at least 87 Mio tonnes of the continental cargo currently transported by road (TAM c.a. 237 Mio tonnes) is suited for intermodal transport along the existing waterway corridors. The results of AUTOSHIP brought to scale will unlock the enormous potential impact of waterborne transport to relieve roads and save GHG emissions from moving the same amount of goods per mileage.
Moreover, AUTOSHIP has evolved the value-proposition of autonomous vessels, showing how autonomous vessels can progressively support decarbonisation, increase safety, and tackle crew shortages in the industry.
From a business perspective, autonomous vessels may impact differently on various shipping sectors depending on their initial conditions. In this sense, IWW and SSS scenarios are quite different and provide a nice complementary pair. As a simplified explanation, where current businesses struggle to renew and stay alive – let alone expanding – autonomous ships will provide a unique leverage to make it viable, while on more robust businesses, autonomous shipping will still improve economic performances. New businesses in the field of remote services or infrastructure management are likely to be developed.
Impact over sustainability: Autonomous shipping development is compatible with sustainability and the need to build greener ships in multiple ways, supporting a change in logistics and organisational measures (including anchor time, mission speed/consumption). On a single ship perspective, the unmanned vessels will also ease electric drivetrains on smaller and slower vessels. A new design with less room for crew and generally lower OPEX enables using these resources for green technology investments. These aspects can push for fleet renewal by decreasing investment costs and improving business cases.
Road Decongestion: economic, environmental and safety issues are the most relevant dimensions to be included in the design and the business case definition of autonomous vessels at an early stage. Logistic operators, experts in regulations and authorities in the consortium have provided a view over operational, liabilities and legal requirements. On the other hand, decision support tools have been completed. Former macro analyses demonstrate that at least 87 Mio tonnes of the continental cargo currently transported by road (TAM c.a. 237 Mio tonnes) is suited for intermodal transport along the existing waterway corridors. The results of AUTOSHIP brought to scale will unlock the enormous potential impact of waterborne transport to relieve roads and save GHG emissions from moving the same amount of goods per mileage.