Japan successfully tests unmanned container ship that moors with drone

A Japanese shipping company announced on Tuesday it completed the world’s first sea trial of an unmanned container ship that included docking and undocking, according to The Maritime Executive.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said the autonomous cargo ship, Mikage, successfully completed a voyage of 161 nautical miles between two Japanese ports on Jan. 24 and 25. The boat measures 313 feet (95 meters) in length and a carrying capacity of 194 TEU, a unit that represents a standard 20-foot shipping container.

The unmanned ship is a product of the MEGURI 2040 autonomous ship navigation project, which was set in motion in February 2020 by The Nippon Foundation. The organization explained on its website that the move is expected to help reduce labor costs, which is currently stressing the maritime industry, according to the Washington Examiner.  

"Using container ships and car ferries as experimental ships, autonomous operation will reduce the labor burden in order to eradicate marine accidents caused by human error, which is an urgent issue in the domestic shipping industry, and to cope with the normalization of seafarer shortages and the aging of seafarers," the Nippon Foundation reportedly said on its website. 

Navigation for the Mikage was set along a route the company already used that took into account both external elements such as wind, tides, and currents, as well as ship-specific information like maneuverability and ability to accelerate or decelerate.

An array of sensors detected nearby ships and debris to avoid collisions, including radar, an automatic identification system, and visuals captured by camera.

One of the most challenging parts of the voyage was the berthing process, or when a ship maneuvers into position to dock. The Mikage did so autonomously using “equipment that calculates and visually displays accurate relative distances and relative angles between the pier and hull,” according to the company.

Mitsui was able to moor itself by flying the ship’s heaving line from the ship to the dock via drone, also unmanned and automatic. Typically, a crewman throws the line from the ship to the dock where it is tied down.

The Nippon Foundation forecasts autonomous ships being put to practical use by 2025. It is managing a total of five consortia pursuing autonomous navigation, all of which are set to test their individual systems in early 2022. 

The island nation relies heavily on coastal shipping in its logistics system, using it to move about 40% of domestic cargo and 80% of basic industrial commodities on a tonne-kilometre basis. However, much of the sector relies on aging ships. 

Mitsui also plans to test a smaller ferry boat next month to compare how it navigates compared to a container ship.