Remote controlled ships could sail Baltic within three years

MAY 22, 2017 — Fully remote controlled vessels could be operating in the Baltic Sea in three years, with autonomous commercial traffic following by 2025.

That’s the vision of the One Sea Autonomous Maritime Ecosystem.

Founded last year, One Sea is led by Helsinki, Finland, headquartered DIMECC Oy. Its members are ABB, Cargotec (MacGregor and Kalmar), Ericsson, shipbuilder Meyer Turku, Rolls-Royce, Tieto and Wärtsilä. The association of Finnish Marine Industries supports the work, and the Finnish funding agency Tekes has invested in it.

“Our One Sea ecosystem is the natural next step in the digital transformation of the marine industry,” says Harri Kulmala, CEO of DIMECC. “Several new business initiatives in the autonomous maritime traffic have already been started and can be expected in the future. The companies and organizations collaborating in One Sea are forerunners in their respective fields and the fact that our ecosystem is industry-driven separates it from many of the more or less academic exercises. One Sea ensures a well-researched, tested and highly capable autonomous shipping network.”

One Sea members have already started the effort to create products and develop software and solutions to enable autonomous traffic and One Sea has taken on the task of introducing roadmaps to an autonomous maritime future. The roadmaps include a timeline towards 2025 and major themes to be investigated and levels of maritime autonomy – all minimizing accidents, decreasing the environmental footprint of marine traffic, and advancing possibilities for efficiency improvement and new commercial ventures.

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