Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and Akishima Laboratories have announced that on July 25, their proposed joint demonstration project related to the safety of vessels’ auto berthing and un-berthing was selected for Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT)’s FY2018 autonomous vessel demonstration project.
Human errors account for 80 per cent of marine accidents, and since automated and autonomous operations of vessels can significantly reduce human errors, they have the potential to make a great contribution to reducing marine accidents.
Furthermore, autonomous operations hold great promise in reducing the workload for mariners, and represent a fundamental change in ocean transport. Through this project, MLIT aims to achieve practical use of autonomous vessels by 2025.
