Remote sailing with less crew: the rise of ‘autonomous’ inland shipping

“A captain needs rest. For safety, situational awareness and regulations, a licensed captain needs to be on board of inland vessels all the time. But he is human and needs rest. We are now operating four inland vessels that can be controlled remotely. With this technology, all of the information from the ship’s instruments and sensors is available at the ROC – the Remote Operating Center. The trained operators there can navigate the vessel to its destination. The watchkeeper on the bridge is still required. However, watchkeeping can be done by someone without a captain’s classification, but who will be the eyes on board to warn the remote operator in case of unforeseen circumstances. The captain can rest.”

World leaders

Raymon Berkhout is wholeheartedly engaged in the process of establishing the permanent autonomous operation of a fleet of inland vessels. “I really believe that this is the future of shipping. Technology can renew this sector. It can help solve the problems we are facing as a sector and it makes shipping an attractive and dynamic industry again. In Europe, we are ahead of other areas in the world where there’s a lot of inland shipping, like the Parana River in South America, the Mississippi in the United States or Chinese inland shipping. Autonomous shipping is what is needed to add a lively, efficient and sustainable modality to future transport.”

“To those who want to get involved in this process, especially start-ups and scale-ups, I would give this advice: don’t rely on just one stakeholder. Make sure to involve multiple parties. Luckily, there are plenty of partners you can work with in the inland shipping sector.”

Throttle control

A considerable number of inland vessels is already equipped with the Track Pilot, a system that can be remotely controlled, but also serves as an autopilot for vessels when the crew is on the bridge. Track Pilot offers no control over the throttle, so a vessel’s speed cannot be controlled. Of course, this is crucial for remote operations. If the system is combined with an interlinked Retina Pilot, engine rotation speed can also be controlled.

In addition to these systems that Dari has installed on its fleet, the company operates eight vessels that are already capable of full remote-operated sailing. Having truly remotely operated ships can allow to operate vessels with limited crew and maintain continuous navigation.

Training simulator

“A ship can navigate continuously with only three operators,” Berkhout ensures. “From the ROC, operators with a good knowledge of navigation can work in shifts and vessels will not need to stop to allow the crew to rest. That is why the next step in our project is to connect the data of the five vessels that we have today, and which are equipped with remote control systems, to the simulation centre. From there, using the data and replaying the real life situations as we have encountered with our vessels, we can train operators to control vessels from the ROC. Yes, for the foreseeable future, licensed crew on board is still required and advisable to have the ‘eyes on the bridge’. Unexpected situations might still occur or the connection with the remote operating system might be lost.”

Signal strength

Vessels use a triple 4G or 5G data connection to transfer all the data from the ship and from the ROC back to the ship again. This is handled with three different network providers to ensure optimal signal strength throughout the bedding of a river or canal. “At some remote spots along the rivers in areas with mountains, the signal can be weak,” Berkhout has experienced. “We are studying data connections using satellite signals, but at this moment it’s hard to determine which kind of connection should be used. Starlink offers the best connections, but due to geopolitics we are not sure if we should establish a co-operation with that company.”

Automation and the region

“For the port region around Rotterdam, where a lot of cargo transfers are made between seagoing ships and inland vessels, automation could deliver great benefits. First of all, if the harbour control and vessel control systems communicate, the exact time of arrival at a loading or unloading location is known and can be planned. From marine accident investigations, it is clear that most accidents on the water happen because of human failure. When ships react to their sensors in an automatic way, I think that most of such accidents can be prevented. To make remote control achievable, it is important to include a level of autonomy into the operating systems. The operator in the ROC is not present at the ship, so in emergencies, some procedures should be activated automatically.”

Regulations

“The biggest problem we are coping with now, is regulations,” is Berkhout’s concern. “Authorities will recognise the potential of making vessels autonomous or at least enabling remote control, but allowing for that in the traffic regulations is a very slow process. We want to demonstrate the readiness of the systems on a larger scale, but these processes of changing the regulations are slow. The process of automation could go faster if the authorities would move along with us. The more shipping companies will join in the automation and remote control project, the more requests the authorities will get, and the sooner they will have to provide permits for this kind of operation.”

Collaboration is key for sector-wide acceptance

Just like with permitting remote and semi-autonomous operation by regulating authorities, the success of the automation process is dependent on the acceptance in the sector. When all shipping companies use the communication protocols of the automated systems, then the port authorities and navigation communication centres will adapt to that. If all the stakeholders work together, an impressive gain in efficiency, fuel saving and logistics improvement is within reach.

Skilled crew and staff shortages

Another condition to make autonomous or remote sailing safe and successful is the availability of skilled crew and operators. This is a challenge for many companies. Raymon expects these shortages to increase, because of the modal shift that the EU and governments are pushing for. More cargo will be transported via inland waterways than via road haulage.

“As a company with a large fleet and several innovation projects we try to be attractive for our current staff and future colleagues. That means we continuously monitor the quality of both our employment conditions and the working environment in our company. That’s what makes people stay with us. In addition, we focus on providing in-house training, tailored to the needs of our employees.”

How to attract new and young people?

“Out of sight is out of mind – that says it all,” says Raymon. “This is something we can’t fix on our own – only together, everybody in the sector – we can attract the new generation. Therefore, as Dari, we work together with several industry organisations to help improve the visibility and image of inland shipping.”

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