Leveraging Maritime Automation for Efficient and Sustainable Port Maintenance

Abstract

Maritime traffic is undergoing a transformation from on-board navigation towards highly automated, remotely controlled operations. Given the constrained and well-defined area of operation, port maintenance is a predestined use case for a highly automated vessel. In combination with alternative driving systems, maritime automation technologies hold a great potential of increasing efficiency and sustainability in port maintenance. To achieve this goal, this paper describes the concept of a highly automated hopper-dredger for port maintenance, proposing assistance systems for navigation in different automation stages according to the definition of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Commercial off-the-shelf technologies are employed to realize assistance systems, transferring also solutions to the maritime environment that are already established in other industrial domains. Methods for Verification and Validation of the proposed concept are discussed, including sea trials with a research vessel. Regulatory aspects are considered as well. The study concludes that a remotely operated dredger can be realized based on State-of-the-Art sensor systems, enabling sustainable, efficient and cost-saving port maintenance. Based on the presented results, clear recommendations are derived for automation concepts and suitable technologies at different IMO automation level. The need for a legal framework to utilize the potential of the proposed concept in regular operations is pointed out.