Keppel Smit Towage’s Maju 510 demonstrated its autonomous collision avoidance capabilities in trials conducted at Raffles Reserved Anchorage, off Singapore Island, in March 2022 (source: ABB)
Singapore-based tug Maju 510 has continued to secure groundbreaking class and flag notations for its autonomous performance
Using ABB’s Ability Marine Pilot technology in sea trials, Keppel Smit Towage’s Maju 510 demonstrated its autonomous collision avoidance capabilities in trials conducted at Raffles Reserved Anchorage, off Singapore Island, in March 2022.
The tug’s latest trials saw the vessel’s autonomous navigation systems demonstrate automated situational awareness, collision avoidance, and manoeuvring control. Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) was the project lead for the autonomous systems on harbour tug Maju 510, which is owned and operated by Keppel Smit Towage. The software enabling the autonomous manoeuvres is from ABB, and includes its Ability Marine Pilot Vision and Marine Pilot Control systems, whichuse artificial intelligence to automate navigational observations, fuse data from different sources, complete risk assessments, make decisions and control the vessel.
“The 32-m harbour tug demonstrated its ability to autonomously avoid collisions in various scenarios, such as when two other vessels approach simultaneously on colliding paths and when a nearby vessel behaves erratically. The trials were supervised by an onboard tug master,” a statement from ABB said.
With the successful sea trials, Maju 510 became the first vessel in the world to receive the Autonomous and Remote-Control Navigation Notation from US-headquartered classification society ABS and the first Singapore-flagged vessel to receive the Smart (Autonomous) notation from Singapore’s Maritime & Port Authority.
Maju 510 confirmed the capability of autonomous vessel navigation and collision detection and avoidance during months of pilot testing. The tugboat has already distinguished itself as the world’s first vessel to secure the ABS Remote-Control Navigation Notation, following initial remote operation trials at the Port of Singapore in April 2021.
In securing the notation, Maju 510 was the first tug in south Asia to be remotely operated from shore by joystick control, after two phases of autonomous and remote-control testing and demonstration in Singapore in 2021. The remote-control feature uses the ultra-low latency 4.5 G network connectivity of M1, another member of the Keppel Group, to establish standards and data transfer links in terms of latency and reliability for the ship-to-shore communications, and support mission-critical internet-of-things maritime applications.
Keppel O&M was the systems integrator for the autonomous solutions. The company set up the shore command centre and retrofitted Maju 510 with systems to generate digital situational awareness and high-accuracy positioning and manoeuvring through its technology arm, Keppel Marine and Deepwater Technology.
Keppel O&M and Keppel Smit Towage aim to continue their collaboration with MPA to test varying degrees of autonomous operations which are expected to include interaction and collaborative operations among autonomous vessels, tests in live traffic, remotely supervised autonomous operation with improved port connectivity, and pushing and towing operations.
“By liberating the crew of time- and energy-consuming tasks and improving accuracy during critical manoeuvres, our autonomous solution has proven its ability to increase safety in even the busiest of ports. The autonomous solutions are future-ready to handle the growing demand of tug operations in Singapore port”, said Keppel O&M executive director Aziz Merchant.
Maju 510is a 2011-built, 32-m tug with bollard pull of 65 tonnes, operating under the Singapore flag.
Keppel Smit Towage and Maju Maritime have been sold by co-shareholders Boskalis and Keppel’s KS Investments to Rimorchiatori Mediterranei, a subsidiary of Italy-headquartered Rimorchiatori Riuniti Group.
