Rolls Royce’s VP of Innovation, Engineering and Technology Oskar Levander has stated that the first type of unmanned cargo vessels will hit the water by 2020.
He made this proclamation at Fathom Maritime Intelligence’s Smart Operations event that is being held in Singapore last week.
Levander told delegates that the next revolution will be ship intelligence. The outright function of which is making shipping more efficient and safe.
In delivering his point he drew delegate’s minds to the development of the global trade-changing shipping container in the late 1950’s. This industry-changing technology took almost a decade to get movement in the industry, but yet has done more for the industry than any political progression. So, he questioned, will the evolution and application of ship intelligence be quicker or slower than that of the shipping container.
He highlighted the fact that in other industries, it has been quicker than that decade.
When touching upon the progression of other industries in comparison to shipping, Levander reflected that the move to unmanned is in fact a trend in society. For shipping, we may be approaching it at a slower rate compared to some other industries but the industry will get there and when the industry does it will evolve quicker than any other industry. He reminded that unmanned technology is not new to marine. His message, for the maritime industry is that it is a case of when, not if.
For Levander, this aspect of “when”, with regard to unmanned cargo vessels, is within the next decade.
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