The IMO’s theme for World Maritime Day 2022 was New Technologies for Greener Shipping. This embraces the role of technology in helping shipping to achieve its green goals.
Greener shipping would bring about decarbonisation within the shipping industry. While moving towards this goal it is imperative to keep seafarers in mind since the process of decarbonisation would require implementation of digital solutions and a new way of working onboard ships at sea.
The digital technologies being introduced onboard ships are revolutionising the way ships are operated in a “green mode”. Seafarers would, therefore, play a key role in embracing greener technology in shipping. They would need to shift from a traditional role to one in which they strike a fine balance between human and machine intervention.
Although there are vessels which operate autonomously in selected trading areas, there are many challenges to overcome before the choice of constructing a vessel which can navigate globally without any restrictions in an autonomous mode or not is made available to a ship owner.
The human element is, therefore, still essential when operating ships and cannot be done away for quite some time to come. Eventually, machines will be able to match human experience in most areas through use of AI.
Meanwhile, technological advances will lead to lower manning levels and smarter machines and this would bring about the need for seafarers who operate such machines to be extremely tech savvy.
Training
A shift from a traditional role to a high tech role requires training and while technological advancements are taking place the need to educate and train seafarers becomes a necessity.
At present, training seafarers to handle high tech machinery is somewhat lagging behind the technological advances that are taking place. It is important that this gap is kept bridged so that seafarers joining modern high tech vessels can function in such an environment.
On a high-tech ship, data from a multitude of equipment onboard is processed to achieve optimisation in operation.
A few decades ago we did not have just in time arrivals. Nor slow steaming nor computers controlling vessel’s track to achieve the highest level of fuel efficiency and minimum voyager distance travelled.
Navigation is tipped to go places with the introduction of SpaceX boss Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband for merchant vessels to premium yachts. With Starlink there are no limitations on its use as in the case of GPS. Dubbed Starlink Maritime the satellite delivered broadband service promises high speed, low latency internet with upto 350Mbps download at sea.
Even the remotest areas at sea will be covered byStarlink. The dual-dish setup used in Starlink quadruples performance to reduce latency and signal loss at sea by creating a wider field of view. The old term “lost at sea” would become a thing of the past! SpaceX promises that users will be able to remotely monitor and manage a fleet of ships using Starlink from a single portal.
Of course,as in the case of the GPS standard service, Starlink also requires a clear view of the sky for connectivity.
Introduction of Cyber security, crew training using new technologies and software, thorium reactors, virtual reality, augmented reality, energy management, emissions monitoring, e-navigation and ECDIS are leading the technological revolution of operating ships.
As it is there have been cases where the regulating authorities were required to determine if an incident took place due to human driven action or machine driven action. The term ECDIS assisted collision or grounding was an outcome of the latter.
Over reliance on forms of technology available onboard modern ships remains a threat to safe and efficient handling of ships. This reminds me of what was drilled into us as junior officers and that beingto”always know the characteristics, efficiency and limitations of the equipment in use.”
Use of thorium reactors would lead to a total revolution in how ships are propelled. Way back in 1959, the first nuclear powered commercial ship named Savannah came into operation. The Savannah was a reefer ship. No more nuclear powered cargo vessels were built thereafter except ice breakers since the Savannah encountered many restrictions for calling at ports.
Thorium
Nevertheless it became one of the most economical vessels to operate and it did so with zero accidents or incidents related to the nuclear reactor onboard. Times have changed and thorium, which is a more cleaner and efficient nuclear fuel than uranium, has been found.
Thorium has an extraordinary energy density. One tonne of it produces the same energy as 3.5 million tonnes of coal, hence it would be ideal to use onboard ships as a nuclear fuel. In addition its byproducts are significantly safer than uranium (plutonium is not produced under fission) and, with shorter half-lives, degrade far faster.
It does not need to be enriched and is not challenging to access. It is also a completely zero-emissions fuel. Ulstein has launched a vessel concept namely the Ulstein Thor as the world’s first thorium-powered ship to enable zero-emissions cruise operations has been built and is already undergoing trials.
The Ulstein Thor is a 149 mtr 3R (Replenishment, Research and Rescue) vessel which has a thorium molten salt reactor to generate vast amounts of clean and safe electricity. Thorium molten salt reactor units are very compact and ideal for ships. At present many alternative types of fuel ranging from LNG, methanol, Biodiesel, Hydrogen and Ammonia are being tried out but nuclear fuel would be the cleanest and extremely economical alternative to all.
Operating a vessel with a thorium molten salt reactor onboard would require a special breed of seafarer! A ship with a thorium reactor would never need to be refueled – with the salt removed from the reactor only every three to seven years (depending on its specifications). This would mean no bunkering, no regular stops and operational windows that could be tailored to fit the task, rather than a vessel’s fuel tank capacity.
As technology develops, the industry has come to realise that enhancing onboard operations, helping to cut fatigue and excessive workloads, minimising paperwork and bureaucracy, assisting with predictive and preventive maintenance, providing additional support for decision making, and reducing or even eliminating some dangerous or repetitive tasks can be achieved through the introduction of technology.
What would be the attributes of a modern day ship’s officer operating these high-tech green ships? Firstly he or she would need to process large amounts of data from various man-machine interfaces. This requires a high level of analytical skills.
With the increase in data from man machine interfaces on thebridgeor in the ECR, the need to focus on critical issues by filtering out clutter becomes a necessity. Ability to understand the limitations of equipment in use and recognising changes in automation also becomes a necessity.
Remote teams
Managing change, continuous learning to keep abreast of technological changes, coping with stress and effectively communicating with remote teams are also essential attributes. Working with remote teams which is becoming a regular feature for Masters and Chief Engineers due to advanced methods of communication and video capability can always lead to the dilemma of who is in charge.
Remote Team leaders would tend to instruct Masters on how to deal with a crisis situation.
Needless to say such instructions are always given in the best interests of maintaining safety of life onboard, cargo and the preservation of a valuable asset.