PIANC releases its first report on automated and autonomous shipping: Smart Shipping on Inland Waterways.
As digitalization broadens the possibilities for new business developments, smart shipping solutions are finding their way into the market, ranging from the development of inland waterway vessel trains, remote controlled ships to small(er) drone-like platforms for transportation of goods and people.
The new report focused the interactions between autonomous vessels and the infrastructure, the role of the authorities and regulations with regard to Smart Shipping. Smart shipping developments were viewed from the perspective of infrastructure providers and traffic managers of inland waterways to stimulate and maximize the deployment of smart shipping. An overview of recent smart shipping developments and use cases were analyzed in order to define the gaps that are prohibiting the further deployment of smart shipping developments. Possible solutions to cope with these gaps and recommendations for the future were described. These can be picked up in other PIANC working groups or research groups.
Lea Kuiters and Ann-Sofie Pauwelyn, the chairwomen of WG 210 said “The main task of this working group was to come to a common understanding of smart shipping on inland waterways, its possibilities, and its influence on tasks of the waterway authority like lock operation and vessel traffic management. With this report we invite others to join the discussion and think about how the future of inland waterways could look like.”
Matters investigated:
