In 4000BC first ship was built by Ancient Egyptians which they used for transporting good and since then till now many improvements have been done in the field of shipping industry.Navigations and engine modifications have been improved in the way no one can ever imagined.
Around 1000AD Vikings built a ships which sails on wind propulsion and around 60 men were required to row the ships and the ships were having more than 2 mast with sails on them to assist in wind propulsion but in 19th century when first Internal combustion engine was built which suitable for driving vessels and due to this modifications many people lossed their jobs because earlier people were needed for only rowing they need not be intelligent but no due to the introduction of IC engine only skilled people were hired for navigation and handling the operation of engine and till now we use IC engine which is being handled by Marine engineers but as we all know
“CHANGE IS THE LAW OF NATURE“
Due to this overcharging of nature a new modification in shipping industries is being introduced which is AUTOMATION And due to this AUTOMATION many engineers and deck officers feeling somewhat less secure because they might lose their job if this is properly introduced and adopted by all shipping companies then every ships will work on ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and their will be no need for the crew to handle and operate machinery onboard.
According to study by Allianz, 75-96% of accidents happen due to human error and inappropriate communication due to which many lives have been lost along with billions of dollars are given by the companies as compensation.So the main reasons AUTOMATION may be adopted is to minimise the accidents due to human error.
WHAT IS AUTOMATION?
Ships will be run by Artificial Intelligence which works on the data given by the advanced camera technology, sensors, electromechanical actuators and improves satellite technology & communications and many more. Automated ships can improve efficiency and safety.
IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE?
Change does’t take place that effectively and suddenly. Because AUTOMATION is not a toy that every company can buy.Its very costly and it requires skilled people and technology to built a ship intelligence which is not easily available to all.After IC engines many ships are being converted into Electric propulsion which runs the vessels without omitting any harmful gases. But to run those propeller a large motor will required and for those motor we will require a large battery or alternator on board. We can have alternators onboard but incase of batteries its not possible because the strongest lithium ion batteries which has been developed can’t supply enough power to motor to run a large vessel but if it can its not easy to maintain the temperature around the batteries moderate. So it can be assumed that Electric propulsion can be only be adopted by supply vessels or coastal vessels.In case more strong batteries are built then foreign going vessels may also adopt fully electric propulsion.
Like wise if we see the technology available for foreign going vessels, we can’t adopt fully automated vessels because for that we will be needing stronger communication between the vessel and onland to maintain the vessels on route and easily trackable. And there are technology which are not suitable for long range in case of foreign vessel.Fully Automated ships may be built for foreign vessels also when the technologies are developed upto the mark which is required for long range.
IF VESSELS ARE FULLY AUTOMATED
- Thee will be no need of crew which means the no accommodation, no galley, no sewage treatment plant and many machines onboard will be replaced by advanced sensors and cameras and the technology are to be used by AI
- Capital cost for unmanned vessel can be minimised because no salary are to be given but a lot more than that will be spent purchasing the latest technology and skilled people who know how to handle hardware and software both.
- There will be less accidents as smart decisions will be taken by AI but as its just a program which works on electromagnetic spectrum and also no people onboard the ships these programs can be overrun or can be hacked by the terrorist and can be used against us.
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Student of B.tech Marine Engineering. Admin of all-about-marine.
Author: Karan Agrawal
Student of B.tech Marine Engineering. Admin of all-about-marine.