As it was announced at the International Scientific Forum "Caspian 2021", Russia today leads both in terms of the introduction of technologies in the field of unmanned navigation, and legislative regulation.

- Over the past two years, a breakthrough has been made in the field of unmanned marine technologies, I will not be afraid of this big word. We were the first in the world to create a full range of technical and legal conditions for the use of autonomous vessels in port, fishing and a whole range of other areas, including the leisure fleet. This will significantly improve the safety of navigation and the efficiency of shipping companies, " said Alexander Pinsky, General Director of the MariNet industry center, which supports the development of high technologies for the marine industry within the framework of the National Technology Initiative project.

Back in December 2020, Russia adopted a regulation that introduced the concept of autonomous and semi - autonomous vessels in merchant shipping-self-propelled, partially or completely controlled without the participation of the crew on board. Now a federal bill is ready for consideration by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which introduces a new concept into navigation - an external crew. These are employees who remotely control the ship, but not just operators, but people with experience in the navy as a captain or executive officer.

As Vasily Gutsulyak, President of the Association of International Maritime Law, Head of the Department of the Law Institute of the Russian University of Transport, noted at the forum, the maintenance of the ship's crew is the second cost item for shipowners after fuel. There are about 50 thousand port ships in the world, which employ about a million crew members, so ship owners are interested in reducing the staff.

At the same time, the field of navigation is facing a shortage of specialists. According to the International Chamber of Shipping, by 2025, the shortage of personnel will amount to 150 thousand people. At the same time, 80 percent of accidents in the marine zone are caused by human fault. These factors have led to the need for the active introduction of unmanned vessels. According to Vasily Gutsulyak, already this year in the Russian ports will work six tow trucks for servicing ships.

Scientists of the Astrakhan State University presented a new development at the forum - digital models of research vessels that can work in the open ocean for a whole year without the presence of a person on board. The robot vessels will collect data about the water area-from oil spills to the depth of the sea - and transmit it to people via satellite communication.

"They have machine - vision sensors on their hulls, and an artificial neural network is programmed in the on-board computer," Alexey Titov, Vice-Rector for Digitalization, Innovation and Priority Projects at ASU, told RG. - It will also be possible to place robot passengers: to take water samples and explore the seabed, or to take pictures from the air. We have already found potential customers who are engaged in the development of hydrocarbons in the Northern Caspian Sea. They are willing to buy the data collected by our marine robots, as this significantly reduces costs compared to conducting research using traditional ships.


A source: PORTNEWS

Tags: Anna Gornova