Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Norway have signed an agreement to streamline operations and standardize requirements placed on autonomous ships sailing in the North Sea. The countries have also committed to sharing knowledge with the goal of developing autonomous shipping technology.
Marianne Sivertsen, Norway’s minister of Fisheries and Oceans, said. “This collaboration can help to establish a new international market for the Norwegian maritime industry.”
Autonomous vessels can function independently based on AI and continuous collection of data. Similar to self-driving cars, ships are manned by operators on land who control and monitor them and can intervene if necessary. The ships can deliver cargo between continents without a crew.
This could change how maritime vessels are designed and built, as ships that do not need crew space can be designed smaller, thus requiring less fuel and resulting in a reduced carbon footprint.
Norwegian tech firm Kongsberg Maritime estimates that autonomous ships could bring big savings. Currently, the company operates two autonomous vessels across the Oslo fjord in Norway. Each trip cuts some 1.2 million miles worth of drive times and saves around 5500 tons of CO2 a year.
With Norway’s great strides, other nations are catching wind of what is likely to become the future of the maritime industry.