Bunker Saving Autonomous Vessels Another Step Closer after Wärtsilä Demonstrates Remote Controlled Vessel Operation from 8,000 Km Away

The Highland Chieftain was controlled from 8,000 km (5,000 miles) away. Image Credit: Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä says it has taken another important step towards developing its Smart Marine capabilities by successfully testing the remote control of ship operations from a distance of 8,000 km (5,000 miles) away.

The company says that the testing, which involved driving the vessel through a sequence of manoeuvres using a combination of Dynamic Positioning (DP) and manual joystick control, was carried out on August 21 off the North Sea coast of Scotland in collaboration with Gulfmark Offshore, the U.S. based operator who provided the vessel for the project.

"Although the test vessel was in the North Sea, the remote control navigating was carried out from the Wärtsilä office located in San Diego, California," Wärtsilä notes.

The vessel, the Highland Chieftain is an 80 metre platform supply vessel already fitted with a Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum package for Navigation, Automation and Dynamic Positioning systems, as well as a Wärtsilä drives package.

For the test, additional software was temporarily added to the DP system in order to route data over the vessel's satellite link to the onshore work station in California.

"Most importantly, the Wärtsilä testing was carried out using standard bandwidth onboard satellite communication. No land-based technology was used for the communications between the vessel and the remote operator work station. The retrofitting of the DP software was completed within just 30 hours and with minimal inconvenience, thanks to Wärtsilä's modular and easily upgradable system," says Wärtsilä.

"The successful test was conducted over an almost 4 hour period during which time the vessel was driven through a series of manoeuvres at both high and low speeds. All the test procedures carried out went as planned."

Much has been made of the prospect of remotely operated and, eventually, fully autonomous vessels.

As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, Rolls-Royce estimates by doing away with the infrastructure necessary for humans on a ship, such vessels could see bunker consumption reduced by 15 percent.

"Wärtsilä is committed to developing technologies that enable a Smart Marine future. In the age of digitalisation, the future Smart Marine ecosystem will involve connecting 'smart' vessels with 'smart' ports to enable an even more efficient use of resources. It will also reduce the impact on climate while enhancing safety," says Roger Holm, President, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

Wärtsilä is not the only company working to develop such "smart" vessels.

Last month, Ship & Bunker reported that Nippon Yusen K.K. (NYK) is looking to send a remote-controlled box ship from Japan to North America in 2019, and in May Kongsberg Maritime AS (Kongsberg) and YARA said they were also eyeing 2019 to have a vessel in remote operation that is expected to be capable of performing fully autonomous operations by 2020.