MacGregor, Rolls-Royce to Study Containership Autonomy

A new collaborative research and development initiative will explore the impact of developments in autonomy for cargo ship navigation and cargo systems onboard containerships.

The research will be conducted by partners MacGregor, part of Cargotec, and Rolls-Royce, who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for collaboration.

Asbjørn Skaro, Rolls-Royce, Director Digital and Systems, said, “Rolls-Royce is pioneering remotely controlled and autonomous ships and believes such a remote controlled ship will be in commercial use by the end of the decade and a common sight on the high seas by 2030. For the full benefits of such a change to be realized many activities currently done today manually will need to be done autonomously. This research will help us explore how that might be achieved.”

As a provider of cargo handling solutions and services for container vessels, MacGregor brings a detailed knowledge of the cargo sector and can provide valuable insights into marine cargo operations and the technology and systems needed to make them as efficient and safe as possible.

Pasi Lehtonen, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Business Development and Marketing, MacGregor, said, “MacGregor wants to reshape and transform the industry to make it much more efficient, safer and more sustainable. In the segments where we operate, we see a lot of unnecessary waste in the forms of inefficiency, damage to cargo, and continuously dangerous working conditions. Our aim is to minimize this waste from the value network and this collaboration on autonomy for container ships is a good example of where industry leaders work together to transform the industry.”