AUTOSHIP will test two demonstrators in significant areas in north-central Europe where early-adoption is needed to speed up the change from road to a greener and safer waterborne transport.
The project will combine two high-potential market applications to increase impact in 5 years, supporting the entire supply chain for goods transport between European seaports and industrial centres or end-users.
The Inland Water Way testing will will concentrate on one ZULU Class2 Pallet Shuttle Barge (PSB) operating in the Flemish region around the major EU port of Antwerp for the transport of goods on pallets or in big bags (aka break-bulk) or hook-lift/roll container (up to 350t of goods).
The Short Sea Shipping testing will transport fish feed from the factories of Skretting and Cargill, out to fish farms along the Norwegian coast with a 1462 deadweight capacity-DWT and 74,7 m length. The sailing route for the demo will stretch between Hirtshals in Denmark and Kristiansand in Norway.
The two use cases developed by the AUTOSHIP project will be the first ones out of a series of more vessels to be delivered shortly after the project ends and will be used to demonstrate a complete set of key-enabling technologies (KET) for autonomous operations. Functions and controls will be determined along the vessels’ routes, including remote controlled/monitored sailing and totally unmanned sailing.
