China will be the leader in autonomous shipping by 2025, technology research and innovation consultancy Thetius predicts in a new research report on the sector.
UK-based Thetius has analysed close to 3,000 patents relating to autonomous shipping technology and found that 96% of them were registered in China. The vast majority of those patents were registered in the last five years by a small group of Chinese universities and private companies.
“The incredible amount of recent patent activity indicates that significant R&D funding has been made available to Chinese researchers building the next generation of autonomous shipping technology, further, the government is highly supportive of the sector, having recently set up a 300 square mile autonomous shipping testbed in Guangdong,” said Nick Chubb, a director at Thetius and regular Splash columnist.
According to the Thetius report, the maritime autonomous surface shipping (MASS) market is worth $1.1bn annually and is expected to grow 7% per year to $1.5bn by 2025.
In December last year, China’s autonomous ship development reached a major milestone with the country’s first autonomous cargo ship Jin Dou Yun 0 Hao completing its first ever trial voyage in Zhuhai, a city which aims to develop an industrial platform for autonomous shipping with the Wanshan Marine Test Field, the largest autonomous ship test ground in the world.
All reads like Chinese propaganda.