Mayflower’s first transatlantic voyage failure highlights the challenges with developing and operating autonomous ships, which IMO and class are looking to mitigate
Autonomous shipping challenges were exposed in Q2 2021 during a key ocean voyage demonstration. But progress was made at IMO with revised rules to enable maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) and the first MASS entering service in Norway, albeit with crew during a lengthy test phase.
Yara Birkeland, with cargo capacity of 120 TEU, is the first vessel built for autonomous operations, with batteries for low emissions local voyages in Norway.
Yara’s Yara Birkeland project lead Jon Sletten says the vessel will transport containers from a fertiliser plant in Posegrunn to a container terminal. “Yara Birkeland will be electrical, with zero emissions, and is being developed to be autonomous at a later stage, without the crew.” Kongsberg Maritime and Massterly (a Kongsberg-Wilhelmsen joint venture) provided technology and expertise for this project. They also supplied equipment to two autonomous roro ships ASKO has ordered for voyages across Oslo Fjord, being built at India’s Cochin Shipyard.
Before this, there were high hopes for a successful transatlantic voyage by Mayflower autonomous ship. Its transit started from Plymouth, UK to Plymouth, US on 12 June but after three days the mission was halted due to a mechanical fault and Mayflower was towed back to base.
On 15 June, it developed a problem with its hybrid propulsion system resulting in a loss of full power and speed and on 19 June a rescue vessel reached its location.
Once in drydock in Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, UK technicians from project managers ProMare found the cause of the power failure was a fracture in the flexible metal coupling between the ship’s generator and exhaust system.
This generator augments power from solar panels to top up batteries on Mayflower. When it failed and bad weather reduced potential solar power, it was stranded in rough seas with no crew to make repairs.
ProMare managers say Mayflower had sailed 450 nautical miles at an average speed of 7 knots in three days using AI Captain navigation and IBM automation software. These assessed environment conditions, identified and avoided hazards, while maintaining situational awareness using the ship’s edge computing capabilities.
During the short voyage, these capabilities were successfully demonstrated. Then the “distributed nature of the software allowed hot fix updates to address the shifting needs of the control software during the recovery effort” says Promare.
Live feed of science data and video streams over the IBM Cloud and web portal enabled real-time monitoring of Mayflower by more than 40,000 users during the Atlantic crossing attempt. Six AI-powered cameras, 30 onboard sensors and 15 edge devices were on board.
In mid-July, Mayflower was undergoing inspection and repairs and ProMare was redesigning the coupling and upgrading edge computing devices to increase onboard processing power. It intends to conduct more tests and long-range trials before deciding when to reattempt an Atlantic crossing.
IMO works on MASS
IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) looked to revise existing regulations for MASS during its remote meeting in May 2021.
MSC completed the regulatory scoping exercise for MASS and approved a circular providing the outcome (MSC.1/Circ.1640) enabling focused discussions at future IMO committees to ensure regulations keep pace with MASS developments.
MSC agreed proposals for new outputs are needed to address gaps in IMO instruments identified in the scoping exercise. It invited interested member states to submit proposals for a future session of MSC, which next meets remotely for MSC 104 in October.
MSC 103 indicated there is need to develop an internationally agreed definition of MASS and clarify the meaning of the terms ‘master’, ’crew’ or ’responsible person’ where remotely controlled or fully autonomous ships are concerned.
One Sea ecosystem’s Päivi Haikkola says IMO’s scoping exercise crystallises the direction and scale of the regulatory task ahead.
“These points hint at the scale and complexity of the work ahead, not least because the definitions have consequences for rules on – among many other things – fire-fighting, cargo stowage and securing, maintenance, watchkeeping and search and rescue,” she explains.
“One option being considered under the holistic approach foresees establishing a MASS code, with goals, functional requirements and corresponding regulations suitable for all four degrees of autonomy, and addressing the various gaps and themes identified by the scoping exercise,” Ms Haikkola continues.
“What is clear is the work of MSC 103 is finalised only in the sense of representing the end of the beginning. It is the all-important first step which paves the way to the focused discussions needed to ensure regulation truly keeps pace with technological developments.”
Class action
To mitigate the regulatory and technical challenges for future autonomous shipping, classification societies have introduced guidelines for operating MASS and for remote-control functions on vessels.
ABS published Guide for Autonomous and Remote-Control Function with a framework for implementing these technologies on vessels and offshore units.
This goal-based framework also introduces two new notations for newbuild and existing vessels where autonomous and remote-control operations are implemented.
ABS says this guidance was informed by experiences on remote-control and autonomous operations with tug projects in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Classification societies are at the heart of these trials providing safety and technical support to vessel owners testing the latest technologies.
“The practical capability of these technologies has increased rapidly in recent years,” says ABS senior vice president global engineering and technology Patrick Ryan. “Our guide reflects the deep insights we have developed.”
This guide covers interactions with stakeholders such as port authorities and other vessels. It uses a risk-based approach to determine the requirements for assessing and implementing autonomous and remote-control functions.
ClassNK has started to assess the risk associated with autonomous ships in a joint investigative research programme with Sompo Japan Insurance Inc due to the rising practical use of technology for autonomous operations and potential safety risks.
ClassNK is evaluating safety and developing standards for autonomous operations technology. It is involved in efforts by the government, research institutes and companies for testing such technology, from a safety and technology standpoint. ClassNK anticipates results from this research, which started in February 2021, will be ready in 2022, to be used in its classification services and Sompo Japan insurance business.
Lloyd’s Register (LR) has given UK-based Sea-Kit International its first-ever unmanned marine systems (UMS) certificate for a 12-m X-class unmanned surface vessel (USV) supplied to survey specialist Fugro.
Sea-Kit USVs are already working on commercial projects worldwide, with multiple newbuilds planned for later this year. The first of Fugro’s 12-m Sea-Kit X class USVs was deployed for pipeline inspections in Australia earlier in 2021.
LR has worked on safety assurance of USVs since the launch of its UMS code in 2017. This code provides an assurance process to certify the safe design, build and maintenance of autonomous marine systems against an established framework. UMS was initially developed for small USVs including naval systems. It is scalable, enabling certification of emerging technologies and for autonomy of systems on larger vessels.
Riviera Maritime Media will provide free technical and operational webinars in 2021. Sign up to attend on our events page
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.