Hyundai: Software instead of a captain – now the dream of the ghost ship is becoming a reality

Dhe ship that Do-hyeong Lim wants to make history with is a giant: 300 meters long, 50 meters wide, with space for 180,000 cubic meters of liquid gas. It is scheduled to launch in the summer and cross one of the great oceans, either the Atlantic or the Pacific. The freighter is currently being built in a shipyard in South Korea. If he masters the task that lies ahead, he may usher in a new era of seafaring.

Do-hyeong Lim is the head of Avikus, a subsidiary of the South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries. Avikus is little known in Europe and America, but Lim and his engineers could change the way freight is transported across our oceans. “What is true on the road also applies to the water,” says Lim to WELT on the fringes of the CES tech fair in the American city of Las Vegas: “The future is autonomous.”

Lim’s liquefied gas freighter is said to be the first large ship in the world to be self-propelled on the high seas. Not controlled by a captain and his crew, but by algorithms, satellites and sensors. The market for such ships is apparently large: according to analysts, it could exceed $ 230 billion by 2028, with the strongest growth in Europe.

also read

But the way there is tough. Robotic ships represent an enormous technological challenge. “One might think,” says Lim, “it is easier to build an autonomous freighter than an autonomous car”. After all, there is a lot of space on the water and no pedestrians running across the street when it is red. “But the truth is,” says Lim, “it’s much more difficult.”

Because the seas have no lane markings that the ship’s computer could use for orientation. In addition, the surface is not as smooth as a motorway. There are waves and currents. The wind must also be taken into account. And near the coast, fishing boats or recreational yachtsmen can suddenly get in the way – the equivalent of careless pedestrians.

also read

Ships wait in front of the port of Los Angeles.  To solve the problem, US President Biden announced on October 13th that in future it would be dispatched around the clock

Problems in the supply chains

With watercraft – as with cars – there are several levels of autonomous driving. Lim’s liquid gas giant operates according to the definition of the World Shipping Organization IMO with level two: the algorithms determine the course, avoid obstacles and avoid bad weather, but there are seafarers on board who can take control at any time. Level two is the highest that is currently permitted in international waters according to the rules of the IMO.

World-s-Largest-Shipyard-4.jpg" data-srcset="https://img.welt.de/img/wirtschaft/mobile236095502/0310241747-ci3x2l-w780/Billionaire-Succession-Stirs-Protest-at-World-s-Largest-Shipyard-4.jpg 1.0x" media="(min-width: 910px)">World-s-Largest-Shipyard-4.jpg" data-srcset="https://img.welt.de/img/wirtschaft/mobile236095502/0310241747-ci3x2l-w680/Billionaire-Succession-Stirs-Protest-at-World-s-Largest-Shipyard-4.jpg 1.0x" media="(min-width: 600px)">World-s-Largest-Shipyard-4.jpg" data-srcset="https://img.welt.de/img/wirtschaft/mobile236095502/0310241747-ci3x2l-w600/Billionaire-Succession-Stirs-Protest-at-World-s-Largest-Shipyard-4.jpg 1.0x">Hyundai Heavy Industries builds its ships in Ulsan, South Korea

Hyundai Heavy Industries builds its ships in Ulsan, South Korea

What: Bloomberg

A few robot ships are already on the move on rivers and near coasts. One of them is the Yara Birkeland, which has been commuting between the Norwegian cities of Porsgrunn and Brevik since November. It can load 120 containers and is the world’s first all-electric freighter. The batteries in the engine room have a capacity of 100 Teslas. According to the owner Yara, the ship replaces 40,000 truck trips per year.

also read

2022 will probably be a year of delivery problems - also due to increased transport costs

And the autonomous ferry Falco has been operating in southern Finland since the end of 2018. There is no longer a crew on board, instead a captain monitors the ship from a control center on land and can intervene in emergencies. The Falco uses Rolls-Royce technology and even docks independently in its destination ports.

The ocean liner at Do-hyeong Lim cannot do that yet; the maneuvers in large ports, which sometimes involve half a dozen tugs, are too complex for that. In total, says Lim, he has already received 90 orders – but only for level one robotic ships. Put simply, this means that some processes on board are automated and can remain unattended, but only temporarily.

also read

Small and medium-sized businesses “Ghost Ship” visualization prototype

“The goal,” says Lim, “is of course level five.” Completely autonomous driving at sea. You could also say: the ghost ship. But it will be a long time before that happens. Lim considers 30 years to be realistic. And even then, he says, you will still need a small crew.

For example, to fight fire, the greatest danger on board, or to carry out repairs. If something is mechanically stuck somewhere, says Lim, artificial intelligence is of little help. A large freighter load could be worth up to a billion dollars these days – nobody leaves something like that completely unattended.

Shipping companies strive for efficiency and have so far focused on size. In the meantime, tankers and container ships with a length of 400 meters are cruising the seas. But there are borders, in Europe and America only a few ports can accommodate such giants. That is why robotic ships are the new hope for companies.

also read

Ship emissions in the port of Hamburg

Algorithms don’t want food and wages, don’t need bunks or lifeboats. So there is more space for cargo. And if the code captains are deployed on a large scale, hundreds of collisions and strandings could be avoided every year, as Lim estimates. Human error is the cause of more than three quarters of all accidents at sea.

Many of the technologies that are required for autonomous ships have been around for a long time – a big difference to cars. Radar, echo sounder and GPS location, for example. Manufacturers such as Avikus and Rolls-Royce are now adding special cameras and lidar as well as the software that networks everything and can make decisions in seconds. Do-hyeong Lim is convinced that decisions that will make global freight traffic more efficient and safer.

Here you can listen to our WELT podcasts

We use the player from the provider Podigee for our WELT podcasts. We need your consent so that you can see the podcast player and interact with or display content from Podigee and other social networks.

“Everything on stocks” is the daily stock market shot from the WELT business editorial team. Every morning from 7 a.m. with the financial journalists from WELT. For stock market experts and beginners. Subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music and Deezer. Or directly via RSS-Feed.

.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.