A consortium has been awarded £1.2 million to promote the automation of operations in the /water interface.
The nine organisations – a mixture of SMEs, companies and academia headed up by MSE International – has been awarded the funding for the SPINE (Shipping and Port Interfaces in the New Era) project as part of the Smart Maritime Land Operations Call managed by MarRI-UK and supported by the Department for Transport.
Jonathan Williams, project director and chief executive of MSE International said that SPINE would help to ‘accelerate the transition to zero emission and autonomous shipping in the UK’. “Clean autonomous shipping plays a vital role in the future of maritime logistics, and the /water interface is key to ensuring its successful operation,” he said.
By developing the technologies to interface between ships, remote control centres, port operating systems and national energy infrastructure, the SPINE programme is taking a ‘systems approach’ to vessel autonomy and related port infrastructure.
One of the most important challenges is decarbonisation which will require ports to supply a range of energies and fuels to vessels from reliable land-based supply chains whilst remaining competitive.
Also key is setting up the robust data links between ship and shore necessary for the coming upsurge in smart and autonomous shipping.
These trends are presenting operational challenges to ports but also opening up opportunities such as slow steaming and onboard monitoring, helping reduce costs and maximise energy supply resilience.
