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Belgium gets a glimpse of autonomous shipping future 

Two of a series of 10 pioneering inland barges have been christened this week in Antwerp, giving shipping a glimpse of its potential unmanned future. 

Naval Inland Navigation’s series of so-called drone ships are controlled from a control room on land.

The first two vessels – River Drone 1 and River Drone 2 – have been christened and will work on inland shipping routes, capable of taking dry bulk or containers. The ships are hybrid and electric and come with the option to convert to hydrogen.

All navigational tasks, including navigation and steering, manoeuvring, lock passages, mooring and unmooring, communication with other vessels and on-shore authorities via VHF, communication with onboard crew and people on shore is carried out by an onshore operator.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. As with the AI report this poses some potentially knotty problems in the event of something untoward happening. The issue of liability could become very labyrinthine and opaque.

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