Autonomous Ships

White paper
Autonomous
Ships
in association with
Roundtable Series
m a r i t i m e
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2
assume future nautics
responsibility for errorsAutonomous
or omissions,Ships
or for| 2016
damages
Whiteresulting
paper from the use of the information contained herein.
Autonomous Ships
contents
5 Introduction
7 Autonomous Ships
26 Key Takeaways
30 Conclusions
Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

futurenautics 3
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4 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper
Small, but perfectly informed
Introduction
Are autonomous, unmanned ships the

future? Do the efficiencies and savings
stack up? Is broader connectivity and
technology infrastructure, regulators
and insurers keeping up? Or is the un-
manned ship a distraction from the far
wider disruption taking place?
F
uturenautics' mission is to hosted by Rolls-Royce at its impressive not just be as safe as those with experi-
engage, inform, support and technology centre located in what's been enced crew, but even safer.
inspire the current and future described as 'maritime's silicon valley'. Is this the future of shipping? Do
leaders of the shipping and maritime The roundtable took as its theme 'The ship operators really understand how
industry. Together with a programme Autonomous Ship' and brought together close to a reality the technology re-
of major industry research projects Fu- a diverse and very senior group of mari- quired for an unmanned ship is? Do the
turenautics also publishes a quarterly time stakeholders from backgrounds as efficiencies and savings stack up? What
journal, website, and holds a variety of varied as connectivity, finance, insur- broader connectivity and technology
events and other resources to help con- ance, global logistics, cyber security, infrastructure will the first unmanned
textualise current technology trends for engineering, ship management and op- operators need? Are regulators and in-
the shipping and maritime industry as it erations, who delivered an engaging surers moving fast enough to keep up
enters its technology-enabled future. and fascinating discussion. with the technology? And what will un-
As part of its annual programme Fu- The technology required to produce manned ships mean for the jobs, lives
turenautics holds a global series of high- driverless cars and pilotless passen- and skillsets of seafarers in the future?
level roundtable discussions. These ger aircraft is virtually perfected, and in This high-level roundtable sought to
small, closed events for senior leaders maritime navies are already sailing un- tackle some of those issues and explore
focus on key trends and developments, manned, armed vessels in their territo- how autonomy will impact the maritime
promoting the exchange of ideas, best rial waters. industry in the short and longer term.
practice and a greater understanding Combined with the aims of the e- Shaping a strategy for the future is
of how shipping's partners, customers, navigation agenda which proposes air a major challenge for us all and the Fu-
stakeholders and regulators are ap- traffic control type monitoring of ships, turenautics roundtable series offers an
proaching the technology-enabled fu- the step-change in connectivity offered opportunity for the industry to begin dis-
ture. by high throughput satellites, and the cussing how we do that, where others
Following these roundtables Future- increasing desire of the Millennial gen- have identified and met challenges, and
nautics produces a White Paper which eration to spend less time at sea, is the where more work is needed.
it shares with the wider industry to pro- unmanned ship inevitable? Those who give their time to take
mote discussion, provide information, Unmanned ships could potentially part are helping to drive the industry
and encourage and support leaders as offer 40%+ operational savings, whilst forward and we take this opportunity to
they navigate a rapidly changing busi- enabling more cargo to be carried, pro- thank them sincerely for doing so.
ness environment. viding a major advantage for ship op-
Our roundtable took place in Aal- erators who invest in them. Crucially, it
esund supported by Inmarsat and is also suggested that these ships will

futurenautics 5
Autonomous Ships
Participants
Oskar Levander, VP Innovation, Marine Rolls-Royce
K D Adamson, Futurist & CEO Futurenautics Group
Stian Ostrem Global Supply Chain Consultant
Joseph Carson, CEO Wiretrap OÜ
Christopher Rex, Head of Research Danish Ship Finance
Alex Hjortnæs, Senior New Build Manager DS Norden
Walter Hannemann, Head of Systems Torm A/S
Ronald Spithout, President Inmarsat Maritime
Roger Adamson, CEO Futurenautics Maritime
Marcus Lindfors, Claims Manager The Swedish Club
Nick Lambert, Consultant Satellite Applications Catapult
Anette Bonnevie Wollebæck, Communications Manager Rolls-Royce

Autonomous Ships
W
hen Futurenautics
launched its first maga-
zine issue in October 2013 The mood in the industry has changed radically with the subject
it argued that autonomous, unmanned
ships—like trucks, cars or trains—were of autonomy, automation and unmanned operation and its other
an inevitable part of our future. Future- necessary cousins Big Data, enterprise-grade connectivity and
nautics' assertions were leant weight in
early 2014 by Rolls-Royce's confirma- analytics, steadily rising up the shipping and maritime agenda.
tion that its ship intelligence programme
was working towards a prototype un-
manned vessel within 4-5 years. completely changed today for some had moved so quickly. The advent of
At that time the idea met with strong owners—not for all, there are still those new high throughput satellite solutions
resistance, but two years on the mood 'no's'—but it has changed, and now such as Inmarsat's GX and Intelsat's
in the industry has changed radically. there are a lot of mainstream, really big EPIC were suggested as one driver,
The subject of autonomy, automation, ship owners and stakeholders in the addressing as they did one of the tra-
and unmanned operation, and its other maritime industry who are really inter- ditional arguments against remote op-
necessary cousins—Big Data, enter- ested." eration, namely connectivity. But for
prise-grade connectivity and analytics— Acknowledging that the speed with Ronald Spithout, President of Inmarsat
are steadily rising up the shipping and which the idea appeared to be gaining Maritime, there was a far more funda-
maritime agenda. It seemed appropri- acceptance had surprised her, K D Ad- mental driver.
ate therefore to focus a Futurenautics amson asked Oskar whether he felt the "I also think it helps that very large
roundtable on the subject of autono- same. "I am actually a little bit surprised companies like Google and Amazon are
mous ships, and nowhere better to hold how quickly it has changed," he con- bringing the autonomous vehicle closer
it than Rolls-Royce's technology and firmed. "The feedback we are getting to the consumer, so suddenly it's in the
training centre in Aalesund—nicknamed and the interest is enormous, we get it mind of millions of people," he said.
the 'maritime silicon valley'. almost daily from companies who want "Whether it's a car or a plane or a
The shipping and maritime industry is to be involved and do something around vessel that's a little bit less relevant, but
often characterised as being highly con- this, to the extent that it's a bit of a chal- the fact that things are becoming auton-
servative and slow to adapt to change, lenge for us to keep up with it all and omous in general is in the minds of the
particularly a change as totemic as un- evaluate where we want to do things." broader population."
manned shipping. But how accurate is And Oskar made clear that these com- For Ronald that momentum across
that assumption? Rolls-Royce's VP In- panies include major stakeholders. society is going hand-in-hand with ex-
novation for maritime Oskar Levander— "That's maybe the biggest surprise ponential technology development. "All
the man who has become synonymous for me, that the Flag States are so keen kinds of technologies are reaching the
with the subject of unmanned ships and to do it, because I assumed that as the right level of maturity, devices getting
whose comments in 2014 attracted op- authorities they may act as the brake smaller, satellite more broadly covering
probrium from virtually every section of because of concerns about rules and the globe, higher throughput as well, so
the maritime establishment—was asked verification," Oskar told the group. everything is coming together," Ronald
for his view by roundtable Chair, futurist "The reality is that we have certain pointed out, "but I think the most impor-
K D Adamson. Flag States who are keen to be the first. tant thing is that people in general ac-
"I first started talking about the un- Rather than saying we can't do it, they cept that things are becoming autono-
manned concept in my previous job, are telling us that they want to approve mous. And that's helping us."
but it didn't create that much attention," unmanned shipping if we can come up More discussion identified several
said Oskar. "When Rolls-Royce began with the right technical solution to en- key challenges for unmanned shipping.
to push the idea the reactions were, able it." Discussion broadened to why Regulation is the most obvious, but
'no, never on my ships', but that has the acceptance of unmanned operation no less important is both cultural ac-

futurenautics 7
"That's maybe the biggest surprise for
me, that Flag States are so keen to do it.
The reality is that we have certain Flag
States who are keen to be the first.
Rather than saying we can't do it they

are telling us they want to approve un-
manned shipping if we can come up with
the right technical solution to enable it."
ceptance and technological feasibility. the feasibility of unmanned operation, actual control systems, and it's interest-
Senior New Building Manager for DS and the answer he got was very clear. ing that you brought up heavy fuel be-
Norden, Alex Hjortnæs summed up the "They said with the engine rooms we cause it's something MUNIN identified
view of many ship operators. see at the moment, the answer is no, as a difficulty for unmanned operation,"
"I haven't really heard that much at least not as long as we operate on said Oskar. "I'm not so sure about that,
about unmanned ships before I got this heavy fuel (HFO)," said Alex. I think you could solve it, but of course
invitation, but I have to say that I don't "It might be different if we went to it is easier with diesel. However, a lot
see this happening in even the distant diesel oil, but then the cost of using of these ships may have LNG in the fu-
future, the distant future being maybe diesel oil would be twice that of the ture and that's definitely an easier fuel
25 years," he said. "In our bulk carri- crew costs, so from an economic per- to handle."
ers and tankers the crews actively work spective that would not be feasible, so Oskar went on to outline where
on board, for example, cleaning tanks there's a lot of development that has to Rolls-Royce believes that unmanned
and holds during the voyage, and those take place before we can go to an un- operation will most likely begin—in road
tasks need to be automated before we manned ship." ferries, tugs and coastal vessels. Firstly
can have an unmanned bulk carrier or Oskar Levander agreed that whilst because approvals will be easier within
a tanker vessel." regulations were being highlighted by one country's borders, and connectivity
In preparation for the roundtable many as the blocker, in fact reliability is closer to shore is easier, but also be-
Alex told the group that he had asked the biggest challenge Rolls-Royce has cause such ships won't require the re-
around his Fleet department about identified."It's not the connectivity or the liability and endurance of ocean-going

deep-sea vessels like the ones oper-
ated by Alex's DS Norden, and won't
"With the engine rooms we see at
be burning HFO. Giving weight to this
view, several of the participants noted the moment the answer is no, at
that both navies and civilian companies,
including the US Navy and Singapore- least not as long as we operate on
based Zycraft, are already operating un-
manned vessels in local waters. HFO. It might be different if we went
The fragmented nature of the indus-
try also means that unmanned opera-
tion is likely to be adopted by different
to diesel oil but then the cost would
sectors at different speeds, and in some
sectors perhaps not for some consid-
be twice that of crew costs, so
erable time. It may be that the public's
acceptance of unmanned cargo or con-
from an economic perspective that
tainer ships won't extend to oil tankers
for many years, for example. would not be feasible, so there's a
Alex's comments on the economic
viability of unmanned operation were lot of development has to take place
picked up by Christopher Rex, Head of
Research for Danish Ship Finance, "The before we go to an unmanned ship."
key question we have to answer before
we can proceed is what is the incentive
to invest in these new technologies?" he
produce something. We need to get nology to be, are two different things."
challenged the group.
into volume production of the systems It's an issue perhaps best illustrated
"We need to have cost savings or a
on board ships, the steel hulls you can by the attitudes to connectivity in ship-
significantly improved value proposition
vary, but the systems that go onboard ping. A foundational requirement for the
before this will take off, because in most
them need to be reliable. They need to kind of 'technology' that enables digital
ship segments today we see asset val-
be built in larger volumes so that you operations, connectivity is still widely
ues which have more or less halved and
can really optimise them, design them cited as being inadequate.
a lot of ship owners are struggling with
and validate them and then train them Indeed, the Futurenautics roundta-
loan to value ratios. If this is going to be
throughout their lifetime so you really bles in both Perth and Oslo saw ship
introduced at scale we need to find the
can have predictive maintenance and operators and even Class Societies
value in it."
condition management to make them raising connectivity coverage and reli-
It was a question to which the group
reliable." ability as brakes on the development of
was to return frequently. In an industry
It's an area in which Rolls-Royce is digital operations (download both White
where so much technology adoption
investing heavily, delivering condition Papers free of charge from the Future-
has been driven by regulation and com-
based maintenance and engine health nautics website).
pliance, and where margins are wafer
monitoring to allow it to predict failures However, drilling down what's soon
thin in many sectors, the value that un-
well in advance. But for Futurenautics evident is that 'you pays your money
manned operation might deliver is ab-
Maritime CEO Roger Adamson there and you takes your choice'. When
solutely key.
are deeper problems with the maritime asked which of the connectivity solu-
And when the group began to ex-
industry's relationship to technology. tions lacked throughput and reliability,
plore where that value might lie, it be-
"My observation is that the shipping operators soon zeroed in on low-end,
came clear that the discussion needed
industry couches technology as engi- low-cost solutions, lending weight to the
to be far wider than regulation or cul-
neering, so for most ship owners and argument that what's required is an ac-
ture, that a broader definition of technol-
operators technology is automatically ceptance that connectivity is now so im-
ogy was needed in shipping—and even
associated with engines, pumps, may- portant to the ship operations enterprise
a broader definition of shipping itself.
be even vessel design, but they don't that it needs to be enterprise-grade, and
"In Rolls-Royce we say that what's
necessarily associate it with IT, commu- budgeted for accordingly.
really needed is a new philosophy when
nications, data, connectivity and those The reality of the situation however
it comes to designing and creating the
kinds of elements," he said. is currently very different, as then Head
whole ship," said Oskar Levander.
"Is there a gap opening up now be- of Systems, Technical Division at Torm
"Today we have ships which are
tween the connectivity, control systems, Shipping, now of Dualog, Walter Hanne-
quite frankly prototype-like, crude things
algorithms available now that we could mann made clear.
which are not designed to be as reli-
actually use to control these ships, and "This whole discussion about con-
able as we would like them to be," he
the engineering bit of the technology as nectivity, in most cases connectivity is
told the group to much agreement. "I
Alex identified, which is lagging behind? not there because people don't want it.
am not saying that people make them
What is traditionally considered technol- If you do want it then it's very easy—in
poorly on purpose, it's just they are not
ogy in shipping, and what probably most the company I work for we spent the last
designed and validated and tested to
of us around this table understand tech- 2 years in a big infrastructure project
the degree that's possible if you mass

futurenautics 9
"In most cases the connectivity and we have 100% reliability in our con-
nectivity, 100% reliability in our server
is not there because people don't and network infrastructure and a safe
wireless network covering everywhere
want it. If you do then it's very easy. on the vessel. If you want to, you can
do it," Walter assured the group. "The
If you want to, you can do it. The problem is, who wants to talk about
that in this industry? Basically no one
problem is, who wants to talk about and that is a problem, we have a lack
of infrastructure and worse than that,
that in this industry?" a general lack of understanding about
how infrastructure should be created on
board. You take delivery of brand new
vessels from the yard and from an IT
perspective there is nothing on board
that would have been out of place in the
nineteen-nineties."
Pushed by Ronald Spithout as to
why that was the case Walter outlined
the root of the problem, "Because no
one cares about designing it from the
beginning. So typically when vessels
are ordered from the yard they talk
about hold, engine and stuff like that
but no one talks about data communi-
cations, that is an afterthought. Then
someone thinks, oh, we need satellite
communications, so they say OK, just
install some satellite communications
on board, and that doesn't even have
a backup. This lack of infrastructure is
because people don't want to pay for it,
because they don't understand it's the
gateway and don't see the value of it.”
Oskar Levander wondered if what
the industry was experiencing had gen-
erational roots. "Is it an older genera-
tion thing, that the people making the
decisions have grown up in the world
where the engine, the mechanical part
was important?" he asked. "That is
very much specified, they know exactly
which pump they want and which filters,
but this thing is something they are not
familiar with so they don't specify it."
Describing the DS Norden ap-
proach Alex Hjortnæs illustrated the
gulf between different ship operators,
"We also specify ships that do not in-
clude an IT package, but our IT section
at the office is almost as big as the fleet
department," pointed out Alex.
"We specify the cables that the
shipyard should install and close to
optimisation delivery our IT people will go on board
and establish the IT network and con-
nect it to the different communications
systems. We do have VSAT on all our
vessels and we have backups for that,
not a VSAT, but a FleetBroadband, and
so we actually consider the IT connec-
tion and communication extremely im-

portant." As DS Norden's neighbour in specified the way I like it." It was a line of board, you don't need water production,
Denmark, Walter Hannemann of Torm thought that prompted closer examina- sewage treatment, air conditioning, ven-
agreed entirely, but had a warning about tion of the costs of building the ship it- tilation, galleys, so a lot of the cost of the
assuming other ship operators took the self and how unmanned operation could ship also goes out," he explained.
same attitude. change them. Oskar Levander pointed "Therefore the cost of building the
"Alex, I totally agree but we are out that the most obvious cost saving unmanned ship will be cheaper than ex-
neighbours, we know each other, and most people associate with unmanned isting vessels," Oskar said, adding the
we know we are in the very top of the in- shipping is removing the crew cost, but caveat, "Not the first one, or the second
dustry. I am talking generally, not really the impact would be far wider. one, but when you get this established
on our behalf," he said. "I know we take "Take a bulker, without crew it will the ships will be cheaper. So there are
care of those things but the vast major- use 15% less fuel, just by taking the many different drivers for actually get-
ity do not." people off," Oskar said. "No deck house ting economic benefit, and that's key
Ronald Spithout reiterated his ques- means less weight, there's less energy because without that this will never hap-
tion to the group, "Why are we ordering consumption because you don't need pen."
vessels which are totally unspecified electricity for all the accommodation Voicing what turned out to be a
when it comes to IT?" he asked. spaces and all the systems, and you widely-held opinion, Walter Hannemann
"Is the issue that vessels are built have smaller wind drag, so when you told the group that, in fact, the ship, and
based on requirements and design add that up, without modifying the ship, what it costs, is only one part of the pic-
rather than, as Oskar mentioned, being it's 15% saving in fuel. Not huge, but ture.
produced in the way that, say, a BMW still welcome. But then you have the as- "The whole point is that there are a
is? I can order a BMW and have every- pect of building cost, a ship that doesn't lot of technologies in a lot of different ar-
thing in it, but also I can have the BMW have crew can avoid a lot of systems on eas that need to move at the same time,
"Are we trying to justify unmanned

operation? We could do all sorts of
stuff using this technology but what
we're really searching for is the
value.
Maybe we're concentrating too

much on what's technologically
possible instead of asking how
we change the model of shipping
to actually add value."

futurenautics 11
"To me that's what's really interesting about autonomous
ships from the customer's point of view, and I'm here to
try and give that. In terms of planning the least reliable
mode of transport is shipping. If you are able to introduce
automation then you can have automated multi-modular
planning as a consequence."
not just propulsion but much more, so I to give us the competitive advantage," each other and to the harbours and to
think the vessels are only a very small she said. "Maybe we're concentrat- the load and offload systems, we make
part of the puzzle, because we have to ing too much on what's technologi- the whole system smarter, and the un-
make sure that everything else is ca- cally possible instead of asking how we manned vessel is part of that. It's about
tering for the change," he said. "Other- change the model of shipping to actu- getting a smart, intelligent piece of the
wise, yeah, it's fantastic, a vessel with- ally add value." larger logistics puzzle, and that is key,
out people on board, and there may be Ronald Spithout agreed, outlining because then the whole system be-
some intrinsic savings, but they are not how, for him the opportunities were far comes much more efficient."
enough to drive any change, any real wider. "Maybe the word 'unmanned' It was a view immediately seized
change." is creating the wrong discussion," on by Stian Ostrem, a global logistics
K D Adamson then posed a ques- Ronald suggested. "For me it's much expert and former head within Rolls-
tion to the group, "Are we trying to jus- more the automation which is the end- Royce's global supply chain.
tify unmanned operation?" She went on goal, whether it is unmanned or not is "To me that's the most important
to outline how a previous roundtable much less relevant. I'm an electronics part of it and what's really interesting
on Big Data had demonstrated that, engineer and I just see this whole lo- about autonomous ships from the cus-
"Technology can enable a competi- gistics question as a big system, it's a tomer's point of view, and I'm here to
tive advantage, but technology itself logistics question in which the vessels try and give everyone that," he said.
isn't necessarily the advantage. What or the trucks are pieces in the puzzle, "In terms of planning, the least reliable
we're hearing here is, yes, we could do so I think if you make the whole sys- mode of transport is shipping, the deliv-
all sorts of stuff using this technology, tem smarter, where trucks are talking ery performance from the global liners
but what we're really searching for is to the railway, to the highways, and to can be as low as 60 or 70%, so at best
the value, we're searching for the busi- the companies around it, and the traf- it's unpredictable. But if you are able
ness model that allows this technology fic systems, and vessels are talking to to introduce automation then you can

have automated multi-modular planning compared to the operational costs of ter logistics and fuel savings," he said.
as a consequence." the vessel," he argued. "As long as they Challenging that comparison though K
In fact reliability appears to be wors- don't see the value they can extract by D Adamson suggested that just looking
ening with reports indicating the per- transferring that data to a point where it at efficiency and fuel savings was what
centage can slip to around 55%, caus- will all make sense then always the ar- the industry was already doing. "Isn't
ing even more difficulties for customers. gument is that satellite communication that just renovation rather than innova-
The group then explored how the Smart is expensive, when in fact it is less than tion? That's saying, this is our business
Ship could become an intelligent part of a third of a percent of the operational model and how do we make it more ef-
the logistics chain and what was nec- cost of the vessel. So that can't be the ficient, but what we need to do is dis-
essary to make that happen, and con- argument, it is just that they don't know rupt that business model rather than just
cluded that data, connectivity and ana- what to do with it, as you say, Walter." looking to make it more efficient."
lytics are key. Unfortunately it seems For Oskar Levander it came back It was a view that Christopher Rex
that shipping is failing to hook the three to the value proposition—whether that agreed with wholeheartedly from his
things together adequately. was unmanned operations, or data. perspective as an economist. "We are
"We've seen new vessels coming "That's the problem, we talk about Big discussing technological disruption in
out with a sea of new sensors, so they Data, nobody really knows the value of terms of the demand outlook of yester-
collect data, they provide performance Big Data," he said. "Owners sometimes day, " he warned. "The potential of the
data and everything like that, who uses say, we want Big Data—well, what is sharing economy, the circular economy,
it?" asked Walter Hannemann. "No one. that? We need to talk about the concrete 3D printing—we have a lot of new trends
And that is because it's very tricky to values, and forget words like Big Data, emerging which are about to re-shape
drive value out of that if you look at it that's just an enabler to get it done." things and change the world in which
in isolation, and that's really the prob- In Oskar's view, what had to be shipping operates and create value in
lem we have in the industry. So we demonstrated was how you can really different ways."
have a lot of smart vessels providing a improve the bottom line, "If you provide Suggesting that what shipping had
lot of data that is never used, for a start a tool to optimise operations then it so far failed to do was to appreciate that
because it's never sent to anyone be- should optimise revenue, both the rev- data itself was a valuable asset, K D Ad-
cause it's stuck on board because no enue side and the cost side in total, fleet amson also pointed to structural issues
one wants to use the satellite commu- optimisation really. Where should your within the industry which made it hard
nications, and then even when it is sent ships be and at what time to make the for operators to access funds for the
somewhere it's meaningless because most of your fleet? That's one part, then kind of digital infrastructure investment
no one is actually able to perform the of course you should reduce the main- at sea and ashore—including in data
analytics to benefit from it." tenance cost of a ship by having the and analytics talent—that was essential.
Referencing Hans Ottosen, CEO of condition based maintenance or health The rigid focus on asset-based lending
Danelec's assertion that he could de- management, whatever you want to call meant that any investment which didn't
liver a 'Big Data' programme for US$1/ it. Now all of that is dependent on a lot of materially improve the value of their
day, K D Adamson described how as- data, but what we should sell are these ships was problematic.
tonished ship managers listening to him systems, not talk about Big Data." "I agree that your point is particularly
were by the claim. Agreeing, Ronald, Discussing where automation had important," said Christopher. "We have
pointed out that Ottosen's next-genera- impacted other transport industries cy- to see data as a valuable asset, and that
tion VDR's achieved that by pre-qualify- ber security expert and CEO of Wiretrap being a ship owner is not just about as-
ing data onboard before transmitting it, OÜ Joseph Carson cited aviation as an set play, and being lucky to have your
which required an appreciation of what example. price back on your Japanese-built ves-
data was required, for what purpose, "If you look at the airline industry it's sel sold at a high price. Tomorrow's ves-
and for what value. about being able to move more peo- sel has to be prepared for tomorrow's
"That is the key, regardless of what ple, the goal is to be more efficient, to economy where you need much more
people pay for satellite it's negligible be able to do more capacity, to do bet- information, and data will be a valuable
"We are discussing technological disruption in terms of

the demand outlook of yesterday. The potential of the
sharing economy, the circular economy, 3D printing—
we have a lot of new trends emerging which are about
to re-shape things and change the world in which ship-
ping operates and create value in different ways."
futurenautics 13
asset for us, so if you have a high-spec,
"If you look at the trend it's for larger and connected vessel you will have a ves-
larger vessels, but is that the way to go? As sel that is much better suited to the new
economy, no matter how many people
a customer I see more and more cost. I read you do—or do not—put onboard."
The operators at the table, Walter
about how larger vessels are the answer to and Alex, acknowledged Christopher
was right, but also pointed out how
everyone's problems but actually I think that complex the priorities of operators
could be. "Alex and I are in a very privi-
autonomous ships might drive the evolution leged and actually comparatively rare
position within the market, because we
in the opposite direction–smaller ships and both own our own vessels and operate
them technically and commercially,"
more of them" said Walter. "But if we look at techni-
cal management, commercial manage-
ment, owners and financing, that is a
completely different scenario. Techni-
cal managers are expected to run at the
lowest possible common denominator
in terms of cost, and live up to the class
obligations, and that's it. Then the com-
mercial people are expected to spend
the least possible amount of money
and earn as much as possible. So it's
very complicated because the objec-
tives of those two areas are completely
different within companies sometimes."
It was a comment reminiscent of
George Hoyt of InterManager's asser-
tion at a previous roundtable that op-
erating beyond compliance was simply
not worth it for ship operators, but for
Roger Adamson it was a small part of a
far more fundamental issue.
"This is coming from higher up the
food chain, in that a lot of owners spec-
ulate on tonnage, that's where they
make their money, they're not focussed
on moving goods around or serving the
customer," he said. "From their per-
spective, the cost-benefit analysis that
I suspect a lot of them are making runs
something like—if I spend a lot on my
IT infrastructure does that make my as-
set more valuable, as a re-sale item?
Or is this something that we can do
without because the ship is new, it's an
eco-ship, it's got an LNG engine and
fuel consumption is 25% less, therefore
it makes it a higher-value asset and ac-
tually, IT, technology infrastructure is
only a very small part."
Stian Ostrem immediately agreed
that shipping was failing to concentrate
on the customers it served and ensur-
ing it delivered the kind of service they
needed. The most obvious example for
Stian was the increasing size of ves-
sels.
"If you look at the trend, it is for
larger and larger vessels and we are

"Law and insurance, politics have
always adjusted to technology,
and we will do the same."
looking at how to solve a range of prob- model that created value across the able to drive slower, you might be able
lems for these large vessels, but is large supply chain. to have a totally different set up of your
vessels the way to go?" he asked. "If Approaching it from a communica- ships, instead of having one big one we
you look at the vessel itself, the larger tions paradigm Ronald Spithout made have many small ones that go slowly,
the vessel, the more cost-optimised the the comparison with the development of just for example, but we have to keep in
vessel is and the smaller operating cost IP technology, where the original circuit mind that shipping is not uniform."
you have as a ship operator, but what switching which meant one conversa- Ronald Spithout summed up the
about the environment, the infrastruc- tion consumed the whole communica- feelings of several around the table,
ture? What about the consequence of tions pipe, eventually became IP where "For me personally, this is a very excit-
these vessels, which have to have large all the bits of a conversation are cut into ing journey, because I think the journey
ports, and for some there are only 50 very small pieces, enabling thousands itself is more interesting than getting the
who can handle them." of people to use the same pipe. The de- people off the vessel, the goal is to have
The urge to make the vessels larger velopment of Internet then gave rise to a smart vessel."
is being driven by the ship operator's hubs which mean two people aren't hav- Smart Ships are becoming a buzz-
search for more efficiency and more ing a direct conversation, but instead phrase in shipping, but scratch the sur-
margin, but from the customer's per- the data is being sent to the nearest face and there is a lack of understanding
spective things are very different. technology hub and forwarded. amongst many of the industry's stake-
"You talk about reducing the emis- "You can only do that when pieces holders about what that really means.
sions on the vessel, but what about of communication are very small and One grey area is the difference be-
the emissions as a consequence of the hubs are talking to each other," he tween a remote controlled ship and an
shipping to only larger ports?" asked said. "Now that's a communications sys- autonomous ship. Providing enterprise-
Stian. "You have to haul the cargo to tem, but I don't see any difference with grade connectivity is available, a ship
somewhere else, and long-haulage on a logistics system. The bigger question could be remote controlled from shore
land increases your CO2 emissions is how to get these goods from China in most respects today, but autonomy is
as a consequence. "If you take away to Europe and back in the most efficient something different. Autonomy means a
the more typical demand and avail- way, well maybe the answer is in many ship which doesn't simply move around
ability cost, as a customer I see more more, smaller harbours, many more without people required to be aboard, it
and more additional cost, they might be smaller vessels, all autonomous and means a ship that is actually capable of
small costs, but if you multiply them up talking to each other and making sure thinking for itself, and making decisions
they are enormous, and almost impos- that the handovers are more efficient. based on the data it's received and the
sible to question or relate to in terms The answer may be in 20,000 smaller parameters it's been ordered to operate
of being right or wrong. You see port ships, and they can be all unmanned." within.
congestion fee, the low-tide surcharge, It's precisely in the development of That differentiation is often glossed
the high-tide surcharge, all kinds of sur- new business models such as these over, but from a legal and insurance
charges arising as a consequence of that Oskar Levander sees autonomy perspective it's a crucial one.
these larger vessels. So what's really and unmanned operation as key. For an insurer or regulator, as long
triggering me in this discussion is that "I agree, unmanned is not the only as a human being is controlling the ship
I read all about how larger and larger goal here, we talk about ship intelli- there is a responsible party, but auton-
vessels are the answer to everyone's gence in Rolls-Royce, that's what we omy brings up some difficult questions.
problems, but actually I think that auton- drive, and unmanned is one part of that, They are no more difficult than those
omous ships might drive the evolution but remember, there is no one right so- facing other autonomous vehicles, but
in the opposite direction, smaller ships lution," he counselled the group. "If you given the highly regulated nature of the
and more of them." go 30 years into the future some ships shipping industry, many have claimed
It's a view that even those in ship- will be unmanned and some ships will that they could severely impact the de-
ping are beginning to accept. A study have crew, less crew, there are many velopment of autonomous ships.
by Drewry warned of the diminishing solutions that are right but the interest- Considering those arguments, some
economies of scale from the new gen- ing thing is that this new technology of the participants in Aalesund may
eration of megaships, and the group offers these disruptive opportunities to have been slightly surprised by the re-
agreed that this could be an example of change the business model. If you don't action of Marcus Lindfors, Claims Man-
the technology enabling a new business have crew on board a ship you might be ager for P&I club the Swedish Club.

futurenautics 15
"Innovation and technology has al-
ways been the way forward, for the last
4000 years the human mind has always
"Is what we really been driven to find new inventions,

that's why we're so successful as hu-
mans," said Marcus. "Law, insurance,
need to be managing politics have always followed technolo-

gy, whether it has been railways, trains,
cars, mobile phones, satellites, there's
in maritime the move

always been a battle for maybe 5 or 10
years, because ground breaking tech-
nology needs to be adopted into socie-
ty, but law and insurance, politics have
from seafarer to always adjusted to technology, and we

will do the same."
Asked by K D Adamson whether
operator?" autonomous ships are really on the ma-

rine insurance industry's radar, Marcus
was clear. "Absolutely, we discussed
this and we are happy with it," he con-
firmed. "80% of all insurance casualties
are related to human handling—not
human errors, but human handling.
So we are very happy with this, espe-
cially navigation and communications,
but maintenance is a concern," Marcus
warned. "A capesize spends 98% of its
time at sea and that's when the main-
tenance takes place, so who's going to
invest 80 million dollars in a brand new
ship and then give it to someone who
won't be maintaining it? That, I think is
the biggest challenge, to have systems
that can maintain themselves. This may
sound really sci-fi technology, but what
you want is ships that have the technol-
ogy to maintain themselves," he added.
In fact, as with so many things, in-
telligent, self-healing materials are just
one area of exponentially growing tech-
nology competence which could indeed
be delivering assets which maintain
themselves and their components at a
nanotechnology level in the compara-
tively near future. But until then Marcus
was aligned with Alex's concerns. "I
mean, you know this much better than
I do, Alex, you're knocking rust every
day on ships, and the engine room of a
capesize ship is just stacked with things
that spin and move and pump, so I think
we will see small units like in the fjords
here, moving goods autonomously
within 5 or 10 years, but the bigger ves-
sels we need different solutions for."
But as Roger Adamson pointed
out, with smaller fleets of autonomous
ships maintenance could easily move
to ports, with larger fleets enabling a
ship to be scheduled to come out of
service for port maintenance as part of
the smart logistics chain. It's a vision

that Oskar also shared, pointing out that cause of the way the market forces For Oskar Levander, when a fully
when unmanned operation is discussed have gone," Nick contended. "You've functioning autonomous system is ready
what is often missed is the fact that en- got these enormous ships with 10-12 and deployed then the unmanned ship
gineers will still be needed, but just no people on board, officer of the watch should be safer, "We need to remember
longer on the ship for long periods. goes off for a call of nature, and it's who the people injured in marine acci-
It was a subject Futurenautics cov- an unmanned ship. Plus it's already dents, are—they are the crew," Oskar
ered in a recent issue, reporting on the largely automated, because for a long reminded the group. "So if we can re-
project mining giant Rio Tinto undertook time we've been trying to drive out man- move them from the dangerous areas,
in Australia as part of its 'Mine of the Fu- power costs. The result is that we have like we do already—avoiding having
ture', programme. The company has in- less well-trained people from all sorts of people on the deck of an anchor handler
troduced autonomous trucks and even different countries with language barri- because it's just not the safest place to
the world's first autonomous railway in ers and all the problems of teamwork be when you're doing one of these ma-
order to improve efficiency. and leadership that go with it. So we've noeuvres—then the better it will be."
"To me, anyway, Rio Tinto is an ex- made operating ships with people inher- Marcus echoed Oskar's view point-
ample of where, instead of searching for ently difficult, but we have demonstrated ing out that the 1950s and 1960s had
answers in the marine industry we need that we can automate very heavily, so I seen perhaps 30 men running around
to be open to looking at other industries don't think it's actually a very great step shifting drilling pipes on the deck of the
and seeing what's been implemented to autonomy once you overcome some rigs. "There were so many people dead
there," said K D. Rio Tinto had a similar of the technology and resilience issues." and injured, crushed on the deck, but
operating environment, harsh and dan- Nick's comments prompted a dis- today you can drill in the Arctic, sitting
gerous, long periods away from home, cussion around manning levels in differ- safely in a little sealed booth drinking
driving large trucks, and what they've ent sectors which identified that whilst in coffee, with a joystick, where the tem-
done is take those people and put them the container sector it could be argued perature is 27 degrees," he said. "Huge,
into a very comfortable operations cen- there is under-manning, in other sectors huge savings in terms of manpower
tre in Perth, where the people who were such as tugs, the vessels are massively costs, but more importantly in suffering."
drivers have become operators. Is that overmanned. The group then began to Discussion turned to the current rate
what we really need to be managing in address the widely-held belief that un- of accidents and Marcus was able to
maritime? The move from seafarer to manned operation would be inherently give the group his latest figures which
operator?" less safe. With over 80% of accidents indicated that, "40% of the payouts from
"That's what I took from your article," caused by what Marcus described as insurance are related to injuries, illness
agreed Ronald Spithout. "The people 'human handling', the suggestion was and deaths. "80% is man controlled,
are better employed, making more mon- made that an autonomous unmanned or man-made accidents," said Marcus.
ey even, and there aren't necessarily vessel could actually be 30% less safe "But that may be a pilot, it may be a tug."
less people than before, but the reason and still cut accident rates by 50%. As As discussion turned to the quality
it was so successful is because they automation improves will it soon be less of training and its impact on the acci-
took the whole chain. It was not only the safe to put a human on a ship than to dent and injury rates K D Adamson de-
trucks for the mine but also the trans- have the systems control themselves? scribed conversations with several large
port system around it, the trains even, "The statistics from Google's au- ship operators who felt that, despite the
the loading of the vessels, so the whole tonomous self-driving car in the last 4 large sums of money spent on training
chain of logistics was covered by that." or 5 years of operation show that the 11 and safety, improvements in those rates
For Rear Admiral Nick Lambert, now accidents it's had were caused by hu- had plateaued and finding more was
an independent satellite consultant for man error, when the human intervened proving extremely difficult.
the UK Satellite Applications Catapult, with the technology to try and override For his part Alex Hjortnæs felt that
the state of manning in the merchant it," explained Joseph Carson. "The pri- DS Norden were still seeing improve-
fleet was already getting close to unten- mary cause of those accidents was the ments, but there was broad agreement
able today, and the potential of automa- human overriding the system. And it's within the group with Marcus Lindfors'
tion had already been proved. also worth realising that 60% of cyber sentiments. "We know why accidents
"I would argue that ships are pretty breaches last year were also caused by happen, it's all about loss prevention,"
much unmanned now, and that's be- human error." Marcus said. "But you can work yourself
"We have made operating ships with people inher-

ently difficult, but we have demonstrated that we can
automate very heavily, so I don't think it's actually
a very great step to autonomy once you overcome
some of the technology and resilience issues."
futurenautics 17
"You can work yourself to
death with loss prevention
in the ship environment,
but in the end we have to
accept an element of risk."
to death with loss prevention in the ship we had GPS assisted collisions, now the situation being worse than it would
environment, you can spend all your we're having ECDIS assisted collisions have been had you not been there,"
time trying to prevent, but in the end we because—in my view—we have driven she said. "And maybe that's a bit what
have to accept an element of risk." down the quality and volume of training, we have with crew at the moment, may-
An element of risk, yes, but 80% and as we go into this world of greater be it's very easy to see when crew do
seems unsustainable, particularly in the automation with fewer people on ships things that cause accidents, but it's not
context of autonomous systems which that's going to present a problem." so easy to see where crew do things
have the potential to operate at 99% Taking a slightly different view, Alex that save the day. Perhaps that's some-
reliability. But things aren't that simple. Hjortnæs reminded the group that crew thing we really need to look at more
As Oskar Levander was careful to point onboard may not only be contributing closely as we automate vessels, under-
out, unmanned, autonomous systems to accidents. "I think in talking about standing exactly where the value of the
should represent a safer alternative in 80% of all accidents caused by human crew really is. It strikes me that could
the context of the current types of ac- error we should not forget the fact that be a fascinating and very valuable Big
cidents, but that doesn't mean other humans also fix errors, mechanical er- Data exercise."
problems might not arise, things which rors that are on board, and that would But in order to come to any conclu-
currently haven't been anticipated. be something that we couldn't do on an sions accurate data is essential, and,
Whilst Nick Lambert acknowledged autonomous ships." as the group all agreed, the transpar-
that technology will generally drive It's an interesting point and one ency of data provided within the indus-
safety, it's a double-edged sword. which the industry hasn't really quanti- try—by crew and operators—leaves
"What you end up doing is moving fied. K D Adamson compared it to the much to be desired. There were sev-
the accident to somewhere else," he risk departments in banks which aim eral stark examples of crew 'massag-
reflected. "So if you look through the to stop traders taking dangerous posi- ing' data before it was sent ashore and
growth of technology at sea we started tions. "It's very difficult to demonstrate the noon-day reports were described
off with radio assisted collisions, then your value when all you've done is stop as often being 'a work of fiction'. It's
@
"Maybe it's very easy to see when crew do things which
cause accidents, but it's not so easy to see where crew
do things that save the day. Perhaps that's something we
really need to look at more closely as we automate ves-
sels, understanding exactly where the value of the crew
really is. It strikes me that could be a fascinating and very
valuable Big Data exercise."

futurenautics 19
a sentiment that's been expressed by it was all about putting the argument in so I think the trick is to understand why
many ship operators and suppliers off the correct terms for seafarers. they make these decisions not to install
the record, frustrated that crews are "In terms of the sensor and report- stuff in ships, and I think it's cost. I think
reluctant to have data collected directly ing data on the ship, you should sell it it's purely and simply that they don't yet
from equipment and sent ashore, pre- to the crew, that now you do not need know the value of having data at sea,
ferring to intercept the data themselves to do this manually, we will solve this it's as simple as that, and once they un-
and perhaps translate it into something for you, because I don't think the crew derstand the value, that's uncorking it."
more palatable before transmitting it like any kind of bureaucracy or report But giving the customer's take on
ashore. burden," suggested Oskar. "But to tell things, Stian Ostrem didn't pull any
It may be a controversial point, but them that we can do your job better? punches. "My experience working with
it has huge significance in terms of Operating the ship is at the core of most shipping companies and logistics
the development of the Smart Ship. what they do, and that is a little bit more service providers is that actually they
Smart Ships by definition should be tricky." don't want the transparency. There are
talking directly to a range of stakehold- The group considered whether the too many potential benefits in in keep-
ers ashore, rather than their data be- idea of having mass buy-in from crew ing this as contained as possible. May-
ing filtered through the crew. But it's a was outdated, and these innovations be they say yes to having smartphones,
difficult path to tread when the danger just needed to be pushed through, or PCs, online customer portals and what-
for operators is alienating the crews whether there was a real issue about ever, but I'm not sure they understand,
they've spent so much time and energy cultural sensitivity, and a lack of tech- or at least are willing to share, the value
training and retaining. Is the message nology-savvy within the maritime indus- of the transparency that these things
to crew—we value you, but we're go- try which had to be addressed. might generate. Or perhaps they are
ing to circumvent you with technology "That's a really interesting one be- afraid of what it might bring?"
because on one level at least we don't cause I've spoken many times to lots of It's a charge that many have made
trust you, and on another, the technol- bearded, crusty master mariners and I before about the shipping industry, of-
ogy does it better? always ask them, how many people in ten couched in terms like 'conserva-
At an earlier roundtable Tony Field this room haven't got a smartphone, or tive', but perhaps the reality everyone
of Lloyd's Register made the point that a PC and no one puts their hand up," has to start acknowledging is that—as
it was essential in any technology de- said Nick Lambert. "They're all using provocative as it might sound— ship-
ployment to take the crew with you, oth- the technology shoreside and they all ping doesn't necessarily want people
erwise failure was inevitable. Oskar felt see some benefit in using it day to day, knowing what it's doing.
Instead of just focussing on the cheapest rates do

charterers need to reassess what they want from
shipping as part of their supply chains, and start
looking for value propositions?
COST
"IT security cannot be an afterthought, it has to
be included in the architecture of whatever you
are doing from the beginning, and our biggest
challenge is that our suppliers aren't doing that."
"Transparency is complicated," said propositions from ship operators as op- ments."

Walter Hannemann. "It starts from each posed to just cheap rates? In fact, as Oskar Levander pointed
unique vessel that is not transparent to- "I think so," agreed Stian, "and I out, automatic cargo handling had been
wards the charter party, or the technical think that unmanned ships is just a part demonstrated in the maritime industry
party has different objectives. The funny of the equation about transparency. We more than ten years ago, but his take on
thing is that all this transparency—or the also need co-operation and collabora- Stian's issues as a customer was an in-
lack of it—is supposed to protect their tion, but you're not talking to us." Asked teresting one. "Looking at a big contain-
earnings. But as everyone's losing mon- whether charterers are responsible for er vessel, 20,000 TEU, perhaps 15,000
ey, it's obviously not working. I think we the increasing size of ships because of in practice on the ship, that's too many,"
need a real change in mindset when it their focus on cheaper rates, Stian ac- he said. "15,000 loads is too high, the
comes to transparency because doing it cepted a degree of responsibility, "Well, cargo unit is too small, what we need
this way doesn't work." I am creating the demand in a way be- is a new cargo unit in the world, but it's
But speaking to other ship opera- cause I am always asking what's the hard to introduce that into society be-
tors, the dangers of transparency are cost of shipping this from A to B, but cause of the existing road and rail net-
very real. Examples of charterers who then I have to factor into the price I am works. The point is that we have already
will put the ship off-hire because it is paying that I will get perhaps 60% reli- outgrown the current container."
fulfilling its MLC obligations are wide- ability and no consistency." But if a larger cargo unit wasn't an
spread. But on a more basic level, as Joseph Carson took the discussion immediate option, for Stian Ostrem the
Alex Hjortnæs emphasised, if things back to the Rio Tinto example, a pro- technologies underpinning the autono-
become cheaper and more efficient the ject in which he had been involved on mous, smart vessel certainly could be
fear is that charterers will then just drive the data side. "One of the biggest effi- game-changing.
rates down. ciencies that was gained from that was "For example, one of the reasons
So is what's necessary not just a consistency, and every vehicle now op- you can't really utilise short-sea ship-
change in mindset from ship operators erates at the same speed at a certain ping is because there isn't enough ves-
but from charterers too? Instead of just location, everything's predictable, there sel availability. So what if deep sea ves-
focussing on the cheapest rates, do are no human interventions, it's all con- sels were being built smaller so they
charterers need to reassess what they sistent, it flows, like clockwork," he ex- could manoeuvre in more shallow water
want from shipping as part of their sup- plained. "And that's where you gain a and smaller ports, with the appropri-
ply chains, and to start looking for value lot of efficiencies and a lot of improve- ate technology on board to create the

futurenautics 21
"I was shocked at the number of systems that were
old, not updated, that had open ports I could have
connected a USB stick into and didn't ask for any
kind of authentication."
transparency you need as a customer problems. "I was shocked at the number he warned. Giving a concrete example
to be able to utilise the full range—not of systems that were old, not updated, of a laptop designated to run the main
just the deep-sea shipping part, but all that had open ports I could have con- engine of a vessel which was delivered
of it?" he asked the group. nected a USB stick into and didn't ask with instructions not to connect it to the
Stian went on to describe how in for any kind of authentication," he told network, but which had no anti-virus,
major ports like Singapore acres of the group. "They were just open sys- and no firewall, Walter explained, "I
containers are stacked, about which tems I could plug anything into. Even had to go to these guys and say, you
the shipping company or the logistics last week at a tradeshow when I went are completely divorced from reality be-
service providers have little knowl- around looking at different companies' cause you are simply not taking our se-
edge—in terms of ownership, contents, products, I was seeing old versions of curity seriously. The point is that there
or the required delivery time. operating systems—and this is new is a total lack of understanding of IT and
"One of the larger vessels takes for technology which is completely vulner- IT security from some suppliers, and it's
example 6 weeks, and onboard you able. A device which is measuring fuel not even visible to most IT departments
have goods with lead times ranging efficiency has USB ports all over the in the industry that they have this huge
from 4 to 8 weeks, so eventually some- front of it. In the security industry we're vulnerability on board."
thing is going to be delivered too early unplugging those because we know It's a major issue and one which
or too late," he said. "Now what if the the risks of exposing them, we know could potentially act as a brake on the
ship was intelligent, what if it knew what the risks of putting them in a location development of the Smart Ship, the
was onboard and what the situation where somebody could go and plug in autonomous ship, and the applications
with port congestion was, so it knew a phone, or an e-cigar or something to that companies like Inmarsat are trying
when to increase and decrease speed charge a device and upload malware." to deliver as part of its GX platform for
in order to arrive on time, instead of just It's precisely that type of security use at sea. How do we broaden the op-
turning up and waiting and passing the breach which has already taken place portunities for products and services to
cost onto the customer? I think if you in the shipping industry. The first ever be delivered to ships, but at the same
start asking all of these questions in a maritime cyber security survey conduct- time educate those that are developing
broader aspect, the answer may not ed by Futurenautics Intelligence found them that the environment on the ship
necessarily be in unmanned ships but that 88% of a sample of 3000 crew had is not like the environment in an office,
these intelligent ships, and connectiv- not had any cyber awareness training. and make them safe and reliable?
ity, we need connectivity." 43% said they'd sailed on a vessel that "We started developer conferences
That our customers expect the kind had experienced a cyber breach, whilst and there are hundreds of people who
of connectivity that they access in eve- 61% of board level executives in ship are building maritime applications com-
ry other area of their logistics chains operators and maritime suppliers said ing to us, so the developer conference
shouldn't surprise us, and there re- they believed they'd had an undetected is just one of the means to get more
ally aren't good reasons any longer, as breach in their system in the last twelve applications at sea," explained Ronald
Walter Hannemann described, for ship months. Of those—frighteningly—only Spithout.
operators not to have proper connec- 36% said that they considered cyber "But it's also forming part of the
tivity and infrastructure onboard. But security implications as part of a risk Certified Applications Programme,
for all the manifest positive aspects of assessment. where we are opening our network on
connectivity and the digital operations it For Walter Hannemann it was sup- an applications level utilising a Cisco
enables, there are also downside risks pliers failing to build security develop- programme inbetween the satellite net-
which have to be managed. Cyber se- ment lifecycles for their products, or work and the end-user. It gives devel-
curity is essential, but former Symantec even in some cases the most basic se- opers an applications interface and the
executive and cyber security expert curity features, which worried him. goal is to make the application more
Joseph Carson says the industry is, "IT security cannot be an after- reliable—essentially you know that if
"Absolutely underprepared, it's actually thought, it has to be included in the ar- you have a certified Inmarsat applica-
quite scary." chitecture of whatever you are doing, tion on board it will work reliably over
Some of the first vulnerability as- you need to include that from the very the satellite links. Because a lot of the
sessments Joseph did in the maritime beginning, and our biggest challenge applications are not optimised for satel-
industry were an indication of deeper is that our suppliers aren't doing that," lite at all, let alone cyber security, and
the reliability of the application is key if
it's mission critical."
Asked his view of the cyber threat
to unmanned vessels Oskar Levander "What I have in my mind is a sort
pointed to the fact that the autonomous
vessel would deal with cyber security
on a different kind of level due to there
of demonstration ecosystem,
being no requirement for human access
on board. "In Rolls-Royce we have ex-
because we don't yet have an
tensive knowledge from the aerospace
side and there is a lot of cyber security amazing relationship between
expertise we access which is crucial for
building up our marine systems," ex-
plained Oskar. "What I understand is
the people who run ships from
that we can prevent them getting into
the system, but the jamming issue is a
shore, and the people who run
trickier thing."
However Joseph Carson took issue ships at sea."
with that view, "Most of the intent today
has been from financial gain both inter-
nal and external, supply chain, financial
fraud, criminal organisations," he said.
"Cyber crime is a $1 trillion business,
but then you get terrorism activities
which is about manipulating the data for
transportation of illegal goods, that's a
big threat, lot of ships, and containers
don't really understand what they're car-
rying in many cases, and we could be
seeing more of that."
Joseph went onto explain the latest
thinking in cyber defence and how dis-
tributed systems were the key. "Distrib-
uted systems are a good way of cyber
prevention at least from a service per-
spective, because the more you distrib-
ute yourself, the more difficult a target
and more unpredictable you become,"
Joseph told the group. "That's where
some of the cyber defences come into
play, so I get concerned when I hear
about a lot of centralisation in the indus-
try."
But it's a complex problem and one
which speaks to the digital maturity of
the industry. A clear message from ship
managers at a previous roundtable was
that no one had the time to go around
and 'package up' all the digital and con-
nectivity suppliers. What ship managers
want is for suppliers to do that for them,
providing end-to-end services and so-
lutions, preferably those which include
connectivity as part of the package.
In an industry where digital compe-
tence and infrastructure is lagging oth-
ers, distributed systems may actually
present added danger. Both the major
maritime network operators Intelsat and
Inmarsat put cyber security at the heart
of their businesses, Intelsat recently un-
derwent a Service Organisation Control

futurenautics 23
"We should remember that disruptions in the supply
chain is the factor that has the highest impact on the
stock market value, the share price of a company."
3 (SOC3) review of security controls, emerging once again was the transi- "Listening to this about centralisation
validating the security of its environ- tion of IT from cost centre to strategic and security, we should remember that
ment, and Inmarsat has spent £1.5 bil- enabler. disruptions in the supply chain is the
lion building its global coverage system "We say that IT is no longer a func- factor that has the highest impact on
with 3 highly secured double teleports. tional silo, IT is a strategic activity and the stock market value, the share price
Both have encouraged ship operators today really does put that into context," of a company," he said. "When you lis-
to connect their vessels and have a she said. "What you do with your IT ten to Joseph talk about the risk of cen-
clear responsibility to secure the link, systems is not necessarily about mak- tralisation in terms of security, then you
but do they also have a responsibility ing sure someone can fire up a laptop think about the development towards
to educate their customers about the or get online, it's actually strategically more centralised harbours, larger ports,
importance of cyber security? about the future stability, health, com- larger vessels—I'm thinking, this is not
"From the beginning Inmarsat spent petitiveness etc. of your business and exactly going in the right direction is it?"
a lot of time and energy doubling all our cyber is a constituent part of that." It was a remark which prompted
systems, and so far the main driver for Developing that competency and considerable laughter around the table,
that was safety at sea, but whether it the ability to qualify and certify the ac- but also a serious evaluation of how
is safety or [cyber] security, these are tors we use in our supply chains is only that current direction of travel could
two sides of the same coin, so that is going to become more critical, but the be addressed. Nick Lambert was clear
now an added driver," explained Ron- sense from the group was that ship- about what he wanted to see. "I agree
ald. "So yes, we are definitely taking a ping was likely to find that more of a with Kate's question, what are we trying
higher profile on cyber security, which challenge than other industries. "For to achieve here?" he said. "Are we try-
goes in fact beyond the communication the land-based big organisations like ing to achieve an unmanned ship just
links provided. We can keep the link Inmarsat, IT is a subject of board level to show we can do it, and all the things
and applications safe, but that alone and executive discussion on a very, that Oskar has described, or are we try-
is not giving you cyber security, as you very regular basis, but I'm not sure if ing to be disruptive across several sec-
say it needs to be an integrated part of that is commonplace in the shipping in- tors—what's the opportunity?"
the IT strategy of the company." dustry," reflected Ronald Spithout. In Nick's view the opportunity was
Listening to the discussion K D Ad- From Stian Ostrem's perspective to look more broadly at the whole busi-
amson reflected that what was really there was a far broader issue though, ness of transmodal logistics, and his

vision was to see some sort of demon- to be able to identify which applications and therefore puts money in it."
stration ecosystem which integrated the are going to be key and help to make With so much of shipping struggling
disparate elements and showed how them possible, either with the communi- to turn a profit and the plethora of de-
value could be driven right through the cations link itself, or with an application velopment projects and initiatives trial-
supply chain. link. But for us, being the enabler of this ling every kind of maritime technology
"What I have in my mind is a sort of kind of innovation from a communica- around the world, where is that money
demonstration ecosystem, because we tions point of view is very important—it likely to come from though? In K D Ad-
don't yet have an amazing relationship helps us to target our effort, so that's amson's opinion there's a much more
between the people who run ships from why we're in." likely scenario. "Or, you're going to get a
shore and the people who run ships Discussing the idea of a demonstra- highly disruptive start-up look at all this,
at sea and they tend to rub up against tion ecosystem which could allow the in- pile into shipping, wipe a lot of people
each other only if they're lucky," he said. dustry to develop autonomy in a 'sand- aside, and just do it," she warned the
"So I would like to suggest that we do box', learning how to mitigate risks, group.
something in a complex sea space like integrate the maritime and land-based Joseph Carson agreed, suggest-
the North Sea using a port like Rotter- logistics chain, and even examine new ing that what was on the horizon was
dam, an autonomous vessel and road business models, the group agreed it an 'Apple of shipping', but whether or
hauliers, so you could think about that was an intriguing concept. not every participant agreed with that
linkage between operations at sea and But as Nick Lambert pointed out, thought, Ronald Spithout's sentiments
operations ashore, and demonstrate "It's going to require some sort of money were held by everyone. "What is for sure
that you could do something about the in to build the demonstrator, and find the is that this is only just getting started."
bottom line, drive value into it." value to then extrapolate into the wider
But more than that Nick felt that the sector, it's not going to be done because
maritime industry was missing an op- someone immediately sees value in it
portunity when it came to the develop-
ment of autonomy—that the industry
should be creating its own version of
the Google car—a concrete example
of autonomy in action which could be
sailed around the world. But as Anette
Bonnevie Wollebæk pointed out, Rolls-
Royce is in the process of creating ex-
actly that.
"Wait and see," she promised Nick.
"We are doing it," going on to explain
"Or, you're going to
that the project on which Rolls-Royce
and Inmarsat were collaborating aimed get a highly disruptive
to develop just that kind of prototype as
an output. Whether or not it will even- start-up look at all this,
tually put to sea on the kind of global
grand tour Nick described isn't certain,
but the underlying objective is in line
pile into shipping, wipe
with his thinking. Urged by Nick to push
ahead with the project as fast as possi- a lot of people aside,
ble, Oskar Levander agreed that such a
concrete example was what the industry
needed, and that it was important for the
and just do it."
partners involved to be the first to de-
liver that. "But if we want to be the first to
do it then we have to move now."
The project will give vital insight into
the type of applications that ship opera-
tors are going to want and need to de-
ploy in the future which makes it a really
interesting project for Ronald Spithout.
"As a technology partner to the project,
for us it's important to understand which
applications will really feed the bottom
line improvements for ship managers
and ship owners going forward," said
Ronald. "At Inmarsat we call ourselves
an enabler of innovations and solutions
but to continually deliver that we need

futurenautics 25
Key T
he theme of the morning's
discussion had been the au-
tonomous or unmanned ship,
but the ground the group had covered
in reality was far larger. As the man
known as 'Mr Unmanned Ships', one
Takeaways
might have perhaps anticipated Oskar
Levander would have had the least
to gain from the discussions, but still
found some useful intelligence to take
away. "A lot of these things have been
discussed before, but for me maybe the
new things that I will takeaway is the
advantage of distribution," said Oskar.
"It must have been a really good discussion "I liked your comments there, Joseph,
so that's something that I think we will
because I am leaving with more questions than have a little bit of a think about, how we
can apply it in different aspects and in
I had before I came in. different areas."
Acknowledging—to much laugh-
ter—that finding something he could
take back and implement that after-
That's great because it broadens the horizons noon in the office would be a challenge,
Stian Ostrem did focus down on how
and challenges our minds as we step on this broad the impact of autonomy will be,
and the positive change it could drive.
journey towards the smart vessel." "It's been very interesting because I
think there's some sort of step-change
needed," he said. "Large changes are
now required but too often when you
read articles about this the customer
is never mentioned, so it's really good
to be here representing customers.
It seems a little abstract to talk about
the autonomous ship, but it is coming
in small steps but what it brings with it,
for example in terms of transparency,
whether the industry likes it or not, that
will happen."
Whilst agreeing with Stian that dis-
cussing the autonomous or unmanned
ship was quite abstract, Christopher
Rex took away a strong sense of the
potential of autonomy, ship intelligence
and cyber security to enable new types
of ships. "My head is filled with the kind
of changes across the industry that
could drive, from new kinds of ships
to new kinds of business models," he
said. "It has been really valuable to talk
in those highly strategic terms."
Joseph Carson too found the stra-
tegic discussion of value. "I've found it
very useful, particularly from a secu-
rity perspective," he said. "I'm always
thinking about confidentiality, security,
availability, insurance of systems, and
some of the comments today I'll take
back and research in more detail, they
will inform the way we approach our
services."
As one of the ship operators in the

group Alex Hjortnæs began the session
knowing little on the subject, by his own "Large changes are now required but
admission. By the end though, his take-
away was the need for a demonstration too often when you read articles about
autonomous vessel. "I'm a practical guy,
I would find it interesting if we could es- this the customer is never mentioned,
tablish a project for designing the driv-
ing part of the vessel for a commercial so it's really good to be here represent-
vessel, to see how it would look in an
unmanned version," he said. "Identify ing customers. It seems a little abstract
all the systems that we could do away
with, simplify the rest, and make it suf- to talk about autonomous ships but it
ficiently reliable to be able to operate at
least six weeks without any stops. To is coming in small steps, but what it
see what that would look like, and even
better have a shipyard tell us how much brings with it, for example in terms of
this would cost—if the savings of 15%
together with reduced build and operat-
transparency, whether the industry likes
ing costs in addition might really make
it feasible for a ship operator to go into
it or not, that will happen"
this, that would be a really interesting
project. I'm not sure I see this in the very
near future, because I'm not sure we're
ready to do it, but listening to the dis-
cussion today I think it would be a very
beneficial project."
Fellow ship operator Walter Hanne-
mann had a broader takeaway. "It's
clear to me that we cannot do it alone,
you cannot develop an unmanned ship
just because you want to," said Wal-
ter. "Of course, technically speaking
you can, but it will only be feasible if a
lot of other actors are working in con-
cert with you. It starts with the cultural
changes that we need in our own back
yard, and then the value chain that we
have to sell, it's in a lot of places, but I
totally agree with Oskar that the 15% is
only a small part of the potential value,
that's only fuel savings," Walter pointed
out. "The greater value still will be when
the whole thing is optimised, and we
should look to that as the goal, the light-
house if you like, but there will be so
many technologies and processes and
methods necessary to get there, and
they will spin off a lot of other different
things that will be really valuable, way
before we reach that ultimate goal of
the lighthouse. Those building blocks of
technology could stack up to make the
industry look very different in the future
and give huge benefit well before IMO
finally say, okay, you can sail your ships
unmanned."
Which picked up on the comments
made by Inmarsat's Ronald Spithout
at the outset, that what the industry
was embarking on was a journey and
that—in the words of the old adage—
it is sometimes better to travel than to

futurenautics 27
"There will be so many technologies and processes and
methods necessary to get there, and they will spin off a lot of
other different things that will be really valuable way before
we reach the ultimate goal. Those building blocks of technol-
ogy could stack up to make the industry look very different in
the future and give huge benefit well before IMO finally say,
okay, you can sail your ships unmanned."
arrive. In the same way that the space we have autonomous aircraft, autono- been fascinating. "My key takeaway is
race delivered products like WD40 to mous submarines, and the reason for one that reinforces what we've always
the general public, the kind of benefits that is there was a competition to find said at Futurenautics. We've viewed
that will fall out from the development that technology, a push. I don't feel that the autonomous ship as a great vehicle
of autonomy and ship intelligence along we are being forced to innovate and for bringing together and contextualis-
the way could be game-changing in develop, there is not the hunger for ing a lot of the technology trends we
themselves. advancement that competition drives see happening in the world," he said.
"There will be all sorts of spin-offs in other industries. Without it you don't "That can be anything from 3D print-
on the way that benefit the industry," get the innovation. A lot of Leonardo da ing and connectivity to standardisa-
said Ronald, agreeing with Walter's Vinci's inventions were war machines, tion, cyber security and new business
point. "I think my main takeaway from because the wars forced creativity and models. From that starting point sitting
today is that it must have been a really innovation." here today we've already redesigned
good discussion, because I am leaving Asked whether necessity was the the port infrastructure, redesigned and
with more questions than I had before I mother of invention Marcus agreed, simplified the ship, integrated haulage
came in," said Ronald, to much agree- but warned that waiting around for the companies into the maritime logistics
ment around the table. "That's great necessity was dangerous. "Disruptive chain, addressed cyber security, value,
because it broadens the horizons and competition could come from an angle started to discuss how we engage our
challenges our minds. I also takeaway you don't expect today, it may not come customers better, asked how we get
that as we step on this journey towards from shipping." ship owners out of asset plays and into
the smart vessel, rather than only fo- Nick Lambert took away several the business they should be in which is
cussing on the communications within observations, the first of which was moving stuff around the globe at a profit
the company, or the management com- the importance of identifying the value. on time, on behalf of happy customers,
pany, or the owners it places the vessel "Where's the value, what are the le- questioned where we need people and
within a smarter community, where the vers, how do you change the business where we don't, whether a more dis-
whole infrastructure is getting smarter models that have been so cleverly de- tributed physical network is required,"
and more efficient. That raises the ques- scribed today," said Nick. "And I'm al- Roger reminded the group. "Now that
tion, what exactly does it take to make ways fascinated by the dichotomy be- may sound a little futuristic, but actually
that vessel smarter, and I don't know tween the amazing innovative ideas on that's exactly the kind of discussions
that, that has to come as part of the the one hand and the culture and the that shipping hasn't had, and which it
journey. But out of all those hundreds way that the industry currently works needs to have, because it's bringing
of applications developers who want and how fragmented it is. Even though some cognitive diversity, around how
to have their applications certified by very realistic, rooted, grounded people do we change this, how do we make it
Inmarsat, maybe there are one or two can come in here and talk about the in- better, and the person, the people for
that really do make the vessel smarter novation and really want to go and do whom we have to make it better at the
than it is today, give that step-change. it, they have this realistic understanding end of the day is the people who ship
But which one of them that's going to of why it's not happening. So that frag- stuff around the world, which is the cus-
be I really don't know yet, so it's been mentation and that need for demonstra- tomer."
very valuable today, and I leave with tion of business value to get something The importance of optimism was
more questions than answers." moving is the takeaway, together with Anette Bonnevie Wollebæk's main
Marcus Lindfors agreed whole- the fact that there are Flag States push- takeaway. "From my perspective work-
heartedly, "Yes, definitely more ques- ing this, that's another important takea- ing in communications for Rolls-Royce
tions than answers, but I just feel that way." I think it's key for us to stay optimistic
there is no drive to get us to autono- Futurenautics Maritime CEO Roger on behalf of maritime technology, and
mous ships," he said. "Already today Adamson agreed that the morning had what Oskar and his team are trying to

achieve," she said. "We call this area up, I don't know but we need to stay fo- shape the highly disruptive future we're
the 'Silicon Valley' of the marine world cussed and optimistic as we continue entering, and that means shifting the
and it's vital to nurture that, but on the our journey." paradigm completely from what we're
way there are customers on the other Rounding up the session Chair K D used to, and really innovating, not just
end and everything we do has to be fo- Adamson picked up on the fact that peo- renovating existing business models,
cussed on delivering for them, because ple were leaving with more questions solutions and services. The danger,
Alex has to have profit from his vessels, than answers. "I think it was Voltaire as Christopher identified, is that we're
and we need to have profit from our side who said you should judge a man by looking for value in outdated business
too. The products that we create on this the questions that he asks, rather than models serving a global economy which
journey will do that, but for now it is im- the answers that he gives, and I think is fundamentally changing around us.
portant for us to maintain the optimism, that's very true in this context," she said. The opportunities are massive, equalled
because there are so many parties in- "I would argue that shipping and mari- only by the potential dangers for incum-
terested in unmanned shipping. Many time has spent too long confident that it bents who aren't agile enough to adapt."
are negative voices saying we can't do has asked all the relevant questions al-
it, but we can. We can at least do part ready and more importantly, has all the
of it. How it will look and how it will end answers. The reality is that we need to
"My head is filled with the kind of

changes across the industry that
could drive, from new kinds of ships
to new kinds of business models. It
has been really valuable to talk in
these highly strategic terms."

futurenautics 29
Conclusions
Autonomous Ships
Projecting how widespread

unmanned shipping will be in 15
or 20 years misses the point. The
real disruption that digital will bring
is ships tightly integrated into the
global blue logistics system which
the roundtable participants began
to plan out in Aalesund.

T
o view the autonomous ship sive scale. That's why to concentrate those who fail to grasp it will end up ar-
as a mode of transport may solely on how many, how soon, how guing the relative merits of manned ver-
be accurate in simple terms, expensive or how safe the unmanned sus unmanned, as the industry around
but what they're becoming is more than ship will eventually manifest is a side- them transforms into something unrec-
that. Whether you call them a touch- show. Unmanned ships represent for ognisable.
stone, a lighthouse, a smoking volcano, shipping what e-books represented for "Man is the best computer we can
or the tip of the iceberg, their advent will the global publishing industry. The fact put aboard a spacecraft...and the only
be transformative because they are a that print books are still being produced one which can be mass produced with
physical manifestation of so many of the is cited by some as some kind of vic- unskilled labour," said Wehrner von
disruptive technology trends at work in tory—or perhaps deliverance—but the Braun, inventor of the V2 rocket, the
the world. reality is that the publishing industry has US Saturn V and the first space satel-
The drivers for their creation are al- changed almost beyond recognition. lite. In the 1950s that probably sounded
ready gathering pace—recent reports What e-books drove was new business like an eternal truth, but automation and
from Drewry and others have identi- models, entrants and value chains, and autonomy driven by the underlying ex-
fied that the economies of scale that the autonomous or unmanned ship is ponential growth of computing power is
gave birth to the mega-ships are being set to do the same in maritime. changing that.
thrown into reverse. One analysis from Projecting how widespread un- The challenge for shipping is to fo-
Mckinsey calculated that slow steaming manned shipping will be in 15 or 20 cus on the tectonic plates that digital is
had added around 3 days to transits, years' time misses the point. The real shifting under the industry, and not get
costing shipping's customers $5.7 bil- disruption that digital will bring is ships sidetracked by the heat and light of the
lion in additional annual inventory and tightly integrated into the global blue lo- unmanned ship volcano they'll give rise
obsolescence costs worldwide. gistics system which the roundtable par- to. No matter how spectacular an erup-
Things have to change for the bet- ticipants began to plan out in Aalesund. tion it's going to be.
ter, and creating intelligent ships could Capturing the opportunity requires a
be the catalyst for change on a mas- fundamental understanding of that, and
Capturing the opportunity requires a fundamental understanding of the

far wider disruption at play, and those who fail to grasp it will end up
arguing the relative merits of manned versus unmanned, as the industry
around them transforms into something unrecognisable.
futurenautics 31
Following the autonomous ships roundtable some of the participants take the opportunity to try out Rolls-Royce's state-of-the-
art simulator. Despite decades of seafaring experience on the bridge, somehow an economist ends up driving the ship.
Top- Christopher Rex in command. Bottom- Walter Hannemann, Nick Lambert, K D Adamson, Ronald Spithout and Alex
Hjortnæs cross their fingers. With thanks to Inmarsat and Rolls-Royce.
m a r i t i m e
32 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper 2016 Roundtable Series

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White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Are autonomous, unmanned ships the

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

6 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Rather than saying we can't do it they

8 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

10 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

"Are we trying to justify unmanned

Maybe we're concentrating too

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

12 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

"We are discussing technological disruption in terms of

14 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

"Is what we really been driven to ﬁnd new inventions,

need to be managing politics have always followed technolo-

in maritime the move

from seafarer to always adjusted to technology, and we

operator?" autonomous ships are really on the ma-

16 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

"We have made operating ships with people inher-

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Instead of just focussing on the cheapest rates do

"Transparency is complicated," said propositions from ship operators as op- ments."

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

24 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

26 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

28 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

"My head is filled with the kind of

Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Projecting how widespread

30 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper

Capturing the opportunity requires a fundamental understanding of the

32 futurenautics Autonomous Ships | 2016 White paper 2016 Roundtable Series

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