Maritime Safety News Archives - Page 28 of 258

The companies involved in the project are Japan Marine United Corporation, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, NYK Group, Furuno Electric, Japan Radio, BEMAC Corporation, ClassNK, and NAPA.

The program called “Maritime and Ocean Digital Engineering” (MODE) is scheduled to be established at the University of Tokyo in October 2022.

The move comes as the Japanese maritime industry seeks to develop and implement new technologies in the context of global decarbonization and integrate autonomous ships into the sector. The program also targets higher productivity as ship design and manufacturing processes become ever more complex.

Innovation is playing a key role in the decarbonization process of the shipping sector and is one of the decisive factors in beating the competition when it comes to securing new shipbuilding contracts.

Japanese shipbuilders have their job cut out for them being faced with fierce competition from their Korean and Chinese counterparts as they try to win new businesses. Therefore, coming up with efficient and green ship designs and technologies is becoming more important than ever.

To address all of these challenges, MODE will use model-based development (MBD) and model-based systems engineering (MBSE).

MBD and MBSE approach problems by examining the functions of products and components as computer models, and then checking their behaviors through simulations. In this way, complex designs can be optimized through a collaborative development process.

The program will be established by forming a broad network between the Graduate Schools of Frontier Sciences and Engineering at the University of Tokyo and other universities and research institutes around the world that are promoting advanced engineering initiatives. The program sets to include relevant experts from other industries such as automobiles, aerospace, and aviation.

“The program aims to develop, implement, and upskill users in the deployment of new technologies. It is also expected to expand into maritime fields such as offshore wind power generation and subsea resource development,” a joint press statement said.

An inaugural symposium is scheduled for the afternoon of October 4, 2022. The program is set to run for 5 years.

Source: https://www.offshore-energy.biz/japanese-majors-team-up-on-digital-engineering-technology/

For a first time ever, US naval ship Charles Drew docked at Larsen & Toubro’s shipyard at Kattupalli in Chennai on Sunday for undertaking repairs and allied services, in the first such voyage to India by an American vessel. The defence ministry described it as a “huge boost” to ‘Make in India’ and said the visit added a new dimension to the burgeoning Indo-US strategic partnership. “This is the first ever repair of a US Navy ship in India. The US Navy had awarded a contract to L&T’s Shipyard at Kattupalli for undertaking maintenance of the ship,” the ministry said in a statement. The USNS Charles Drew will be at the Kattupalli shipyard for 11 days.

In a brief interaction with reporters at the L&T’s shipyard in Chennai, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said the government has accorded in principle approval for design and development of high capacity diesel marine engine for naval ships. The diesel marine engines in our ships are presently imported. It is one of those items which we do not have the indigenous capability, he said answering a question.

To address this, it has been decided to develop the engine under the Make-1 procedure. Under the plan, government provides 70 percent assistance of the project cost for design and development of the engine.

The approval in principle has been given and very shortly follow-up steps would be taken to design and develop the engine. In the next 2-3 years, the big size ‘6 MW and above’ marine diesel engines used for naval ships would be designed and developed in the country, he said.

To a query, a top L&T official said that the contract for repairing the US ship has opened the doors for many more similar opportunities.

The ministry said: “The event signifies the capabilities of Indian shipyards in the global ship repairing market. Indian shipyards offer wide-ranging and cost-effective ship repair and maintenance services, using advanced maritime technology platforms”.

Ajay Kumar, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral SN Ghormade and other senior officials of the defence ministry visited the shipyard to welcome the vessel.

US Consul General in Chennai Judith Ravin and Defence Attach at the US Embassy at New Delhi Rear Admiral Michael Baker were also present.

Kumar described the visit by the US ship to undertake repairs as a “red-letter day” for the Indian shipbuilding industry and the Indo-US defence relationship.

“We are indeed pleased to welcome US Naval Ship USNS Charles Drew to India, for making her voyage ready. India’s initiative also assumes special significance in furthering the strategic partnership between India and the US,” he said.

“It marks the beginning of a new chapter for deeper engagements,” Kumar added.

He also called the arrival of USNS Charles Drew for repairs a sign of maturing Indian shipbuilding industry.

“Today, India has six major shipyards with a turnover of nearly USD 2 billion. We are making ships not only for our own requirements,” he said.

“We have our own design house capable of making all kinds of state-of-the-art ships. The country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant is a shining example of the growth of the Indian shipbuilding industry,” he said.

The defence secretary said that under the new innovation ecosystem, vessels capable of undertaking autonomous missions have been built by Goa Shipyard Limited.

“The shipbuilding industry today is not just carrying out conventional things, but is also amalgamating the latest technologies with it,” he said.

The defence secretary also asserted that the ties between India and the US have been expanding in scale and scope and are based on common values and beliefs of an open, inclusive and rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific.

He added there has been a tremendous amount of traction in the defence industry cooperation over the last couple of years between the two countries.

“Indian defence exports have seen a massive increase in the last four-five years. Exports, which were worth about Rs 1,500 crore in 2015-16, have now grown by 800 per cent to around Rs 13,000 crore,” he said.

Kumar said a major destination for Indian exports is the US and hoped that defence exports will increase further in the times to come.

US Consul General in Chennai Judith Ravin said: “In April, at the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin affirmed their intention to explore utilising Indian shipyards for repairs on US Navy vessels.”

“This inaugural repair of USNS Charles Drew is a landmark development to be celebrated as a symbol of our strengthened US-India partnership,” the US diplomat said.

Source: India.com

The inspection of the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain under a UN-brokered deal to resume exports from the war-torn country has been completed and the vessel is expected to pass through the Bosphorus Strait “shortly” as it heads for its final destination in Lebanon.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said on August 3 that the inspection was performed by a 20-person team from a special joint coordination center that boarded the Sierra Leone-registered Razoni earlier in the day off the mouth of the Bosphorus Strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and on to the Aegean Sea.

The Razoni, which set sail from Odesa early on August 1 carrying 26,527 tons of corn bound for Tripoli, Lebanon, arrived off Turkey’s Black Sea coast late on August 2 after a delay caused by bad weather.

In line with agreed procedure, the inspections are not to take place in the port of Istanbul but at sea.Some 27 vessels have been waiting in three Ukrainian ports with cargo and signed contracts, ready to go, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Turkish Rear Admiral Ozcan Altunbulak, a coordinator at the joint center, said “preparations and planning” are continuing for other ships expected to leave Ukraine’s ports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more time is needed to see whether other grain shipments would follow.

“Just recently, thanks to the UN in partnership with Turkey, we had a first ship with the delivery of grain, but it’s still nothing. But we hope it’s a tendency that will continue,: he told students in Australia in an online conference.

The U.S. State Department welcomed news of what it called a “significant step, which raises hope of bringing the millions of tons of grain stuck at Ukraine’s ports to those facing food insecurity around the world.”

But the State Department warned that Russia must fulfil it obligations under the agreement and end attacks on Ukrainian farmland.

“This is only a first step, and continued implementation of the July 21 UN-facilitated deal is essential to bolster food security around the world. Russia must meet its commitments, including by facilitating unimpeded exports of agricultural products from Black Sea ports. Russia must also end its attacks that are rendering farmland in Ukraine unusable and destroying agricultural infrastructure,” it said.

An unnamed senior Turkish official told Reuters earlier on August 2 that Ankara expects roughly one grain ship to leave Ukrainian ports daily as long as the UN-brokered agreement holds.

The halt of grain shipments from Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, contributed to a spike in food prices and caused concern about countries in the Middle East and African receiving enough grain and other commodities to feed their populations.

Ukraine blamed a Russian blockade of its ports for the halt in grain shipments, while Russia blamed mines in the water placed by Ukraine as protection from a Russian amphibious assault.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-grain-turkey-inspection-lebanon/31971879.html

Maritime NZ has announced recipients of the annual Fuel Excise Duty (FED) funding for safer boating initiatives to help reduce fatalities and injuries.

In total, 25 projects and initiatives around the country will share $863,000 worth of funding.

Too many people die each year while participating in recreational boating, says Maritime NZ Director Kirstie Hewlett.

Maritime NZ research shows that 98 people died in various incidents between 2015 and 2020.

Ms Hewlett says the fund will help various national and regional campaigns and initiatives to turn that number around.

“We want to ensure all boaties enjoy the water and come home safe,” she says.

“We want to help boaties know, understand and follow the rules each and every time they head out on the water.”

Initiatives which have received funding include Coastguard’s Old4New lifejacket upgrade programme and the Bar Safety Video Series, which received $125,000; Northland Regional Council’s Nobody’s Stronger Than Tangaroa campaign, which received $70,000; and $60,000 for Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Kia Maruatau ki te wai and Safety is Our Wai scheme.

Many of this year’s grants focus on communities most in need of support, says Ms Hewlett.

“The funding is specifically targeted at on-water compliance activities for people and areas that don’t currently have it, such as ethnic minority groups, low socio-economic and hard-to-reach areas,” she says.

These include Northland, Bay of Plenty and the West Coast.

Pasifika, Asian and Māori communities are the targets of a number of programmes.

These include Coastguard’s Folau Malu campaign, Drowning Prevention Auckland’s Wai Wise initiative and the NZ Underwater Association’s Dive Pacific Māori programme.

A key purpose of the fund is to support campaigns and collaboration of New Zealand’s Safer Boating Forum, a group of organisations dedicated to improving safety in the recreational boating sector.

Forum members include Coastguard, Jet Boating NZ, NZ Search and Rescue Council, Surf Lifesaving NZ, and a number of regional councils.

Ms Hewlett says that collaboration and the allocation of FED funding is essential to saving lives.

“More than two million New Zealanders take part in recreational boating every year and this funding allocation will hopefully ensure their lives are safer as a result,” she says.

Note to editors

All of Maritime New Zealand’s recreational boating work is funded through fuel excise duty on petrol (about $5.4 million). This is from contributions to the tax take boaties make when refuelling their boats. That is redirected to support recreational boating safety.

Source: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU2208/S00061/maritime-nz-announces-safer-boating-funding.htm

A group of Japanese technology leaders have come together to establish a cooperation program called “Maritime and Ocean Digital Engineering” (MODE), at the University of Tokyo from the 1st of October. The program aims to promote and enhance digital engineering technology and skills for the maritime sector by building cooperative simulation platforms.

Japan’s maritime industry is facing challenges, such as developing and implementing new technologies in the context of global decarbonization, maintaining shipping services by integrating autonomous ships to assist seafarers and improve safety, and ensuring high productivity among increasing complexity in ship design and manufacturing processes.

MODE aims to address these challenges by using model-based development (MBD) and model-based systems engineering (MBSE), which are increasingly being introduced in the automobile industry.

MBD and MBSE approach problems by examining the functions of products and components as computer models, and then checking their behaviors through simulations. MBD and MBSE enable not only the optimization of complex system designs, but also the creation of a collaborative development process (“Maritime and Ocean Digital Engineering”) involving a wide range of stakeholders, including shippers and operators.

The program for research and education on MBD and MBSE for the maritime field will be established by a forming broad network between the Graduate Schools of Frontier Sciences and Engineering at the University of Tokyo and other universities and research institutes around the world that are promoting advanced engineering initiatives, and relevant experts from other industries such as automobiles, aerospace and aviation.

The program aims to develop, implement, and upskill users in the deployment of new technologies. It is also expected to expand into maritime fields such as offshore wind power generation and subsea resource development.

An inaugural symposium is scheduled for the afternoon of October 4, 2022, in Ito Hall at the University of Tokyo. MODE is committed to supporting the development of next-generation technologies and skills in Japan’s maritime sector, and to act as a platform for collaboration between industry, academia and government.

Source: https://seawanderer.org/japanese-companies-join-forces-to-build-a-co-operative-simulation-platform

No fixed alternative routes between Taiwan and the Philippines and Japan
Taiwan transport authorities say Taipei air control units are coordinating with Philippine and Japan counterparts based on the airspace situation
On the last day of its live-fire drills around Taiwan, China said it will begin on August 8 a month-long series of live-fire drills in Bohai Sea and similar drills for a week from Sunday to August 15 south of the Yellow Sea

Taiwan has not established fixed alternative routes with the Philippines and Japan for cargo flights to and from those two countries amid China’s live-fire drills that virtually blockaded the island, transport authorities of Taiwan told PortCalls.

Month-long live-fire drills in the Bohai Sea and south of the Yellow Sea will be held by the People’s Liberation Army, China announced on August 7, as it prepared to end massive live-fire exercises around Taiwan that halted commercial ships calls to ports the island.

The Taiwan authorities were replying to queries from PortCalls last Thursday about reports coming from Taipei that it is coordinating with the Philippines and Japan the setting up of alternative routes for cargo flights due to China’s live-fire drills around Taiwan.

Air traffic control units are coordinating with Philippine and Japan air traffic controllers based on the situation in Taiwan’s airspace, one source said.

Airlines have cancelled flights to Taipei and rerouted others to avoid nearby airspace that has been closed to civilian traffic during the Chinese military exercises.

The Maritime Safety Administration of China said military operations will be held in part of the Bohai Sea from Monday until September 8, and in parts of southern Yellow Sea from Sunday to August 15, South China Morning Post reported. SCMP said the waters will be off limits to shipping during the drills.

The live-fire drills at the newly identified zones would affect airline operations and commercial shipping to Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong and the ports on their coasts.

The PLA mounted unprecedented war games near Taiwan in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.

The military exercises have led some ships to sail around the Taiwan Strait and give the island a wide berth, disrupting key trading routes for cargo and commodities on Saturday, analysts said. Potential delays for shipments of electronic goods are expected, they said.

The newly announced live-fire drills on Bohai Sea and south of the Yellow Sea are expected to cause potential substantial disruption to trade in the region.

VesselsValue’s data shows that there are 256 containerships, tankers, and bulkers in Taiwanese territorial waters, with a further 60 estimated to arrive before the conclusion of the drills on Sunday.

Of the containerships, tankers and bulkers that have a predicted destination of Taiwan the current count is 308, of which 60 are estimated to arrive between Thursday and Sunday when the military drills will be performed.

Although Taiwan’s ports are operating normally, some cargo ships and oil tankers are circumnavigating the island to avoid confrontation with the Chinese military, adding around half a day to voyages, analysts and shipowners said.

It reminds everyone of the severe impact a conflict over Taiwan could have on global trade given the 180-km wide Taiwan Strait and a shipping lane to the island’s east are major routes for ships transporting goods from East Asia to the United States and Europe.

“Some ships have already taken precautions and are proceeding east of the island instead of through the Taiwan Strait,” said Niels Rasmussen, chief analyst at shipowner association BIMCO, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Source: https://www.portcalls.com/no-fixed-routes-for-ph-japan-cargo-flights-taipei/

Big data and predictive analytics play a massive role in the ship vetting agency’s business, enabling owners to select greener and safer vessels.

The agency is also working with the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association to develop a maritime emissions portal, enabling ports and their stakeholders to measure air quality and changing air patterns throughout the port environs.

“This is a critical strategic development for RightShip as we gain our own in-house technology competence that will underpin our long-term growth objective of being an industry-leading ESG-focused digital maritime platform,” RightShip CEO, Steen Lund said.

“Over the past 20 years, RightShip has grown purely organically. This acquisition provides us at RightShip with an exciting opportunity to solidify our very foundation as a digital product builder.“

Marlon Grech, Founder, and CEO of Thynk believes the merger is a great opportunity for the company to solidify the cooperation.

“We have worked together for several years now and know each other well, and so for me and my Malta-based team, this is a natural progression,” he added.

Thynk’s founder and CEO, and around 30 of his colleagues will join RightShip when the acquisition completes, which is expected to be September 1, 2022.

Source: https://www.offshore-energy.biz/rightship-strengthens-digital-esg-expertise-with-thynk-acquisition/

PEARL HARBOR — The Pacific and Indian Oceans Shipping Working Group (PACIOSWG) conducted Exercise Bell Buoy 2022 at Pearl Harbor, June 27 to July 1. This RIMPAC is the largest deployment of NCAGs personnel from multiple partner nations.

U.S. 3rd Fleet and the U.S. Fleet Forces Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS) team hosted 11 member nations and more than 44 participants.

The command and control of the multi-national Shipping Coordination Center in Hawaii, and multi-location shipping control teams, spanned the globe with participants from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, U.S., and the non-nation participant, NATO Shipping Center.

“We are extremely pleased with the Bell Buoy 2022 outcomes, especially the global integration and synchronization of maritime operations over 17 time zones– leveraging the talents, experience and collective capabilities of this multinational team for the benefit and protection of shipping,” said U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Michael E. Boyle, commander of the RIMPAC 2022 Combined Task Force and commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet.

The aim of Bell Buoy is to develop respective NCAGS and maritime trade operations (MTO) capabilities and foster interoperability of PACIOSWG member nations in the protection of seaborne trade. Using established doctrine and published procedures, the exercise refreshed the practice for maritime trade protection.

“The Bell Buoy exercise series anchors member nations and allies in the practice of NCAGS, to unlock maritime trade operations training opportunities and realize greater interoperability through partnership and collaboration,” said Boyle.

The major themes for training involved harassment of shipping issues and piracy, and a vessel visit and briefing on NCAGS at Honolulu Harbor.

“Bell Buoy offers participants the ability to apply tactical, operational and strategic level advice on civil shipping and maritime trade protection matters while acquiring knowledge of the maritime environment, to include patterns of life and engagement with maritime industry at various levels,” said U.S. Navy Capt. John Bellissimo, the Bell Buoy exercise director.

For the first time at RIMPAC, an NCAGS Symposium was held July 1 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hawaii’s Ford Island. The event include NCAGS and MTO thought leaders from the France, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. Designed to collaborate, develop and share readiness best practices for maritime domain awareness and information sharing, the event also included NCAGS focus area presentations and a panel discussion with NCAGS and maritime industry experts, covering a broad range of current maritime industry security issues and trends.

“The globally integrated NCAGS and MTO practices confront multi-national maritime problems with multi-national maritime solutions,” said Capt. Alex Soukhanov, a U.S. Navy Strategic Sealift Officer and active U.S. Coast Guard licensed master mariner and harbor pilot.

“Successful naval operations require cooperation and communication with the concerned regional commercial maritime stakeholders” said Royal Navy Lt. Cmdr. Rob Drake.

French Navy Cmdr. Eric Jaslin presented on the Maritime Information Coalition Awareness Center (MICA) and its worldwide network of information centers.

While an expert on MTS Security and Cyber with U.S. Coast Guard discussed the 2020 U.S. National Maritime Cyber Strategy for building cyber-resilience across the Maritime Transportation System.

“Global health, safety, and well-being are inextricably linked to the maritime enabled flow of goods and services” said Leigh Cotterell on the U.S. Coast Guard.

Over 60 personnel from 14 different partner and ally navies participated at the inaugural NCAGS Symposium, in an effort to further build capable and adaptive partners.

The German Navy deployed four NCAGS officers to support RIMPAC 2022. The afloat elements actively engage the bridge watch teams and other crew to provide information on NCAGS procedures, which help prepare mariners for operating in contested maritime environments or other shipping risk areas.

Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participated in RIMPAC from June 29 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971.

Source: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/426518/bell-buoy-brings-11-partner-nations-together-rimpac-2022

KYIV/ISTANBUL, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Four more ships carrying almost 170,000 tonnes of corn and other foodstuffs sailed from Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Sunday under a deal to unblock the country’s exports after Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the agreement last month after warnings that the halt in grain shipments caused by the conflict could lead to severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said there were plans to step up shipments still further.

“We are gradually moving on to larger volumes of work. We plan to ensure the ability of the ports to handle at least 100 vessels per month in the near future,” he added.

Ukraine would soon also start exporting grain from its Black Sea port of Pivdennyi, an expansion that would let it send out a total of at least 3 million tonnes of goods a month, the minister said on Facebook.

Before Russia started what it calls its “special military operation,” Russia and Ukraine together accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports. In peacetime, Ukraine exported up to 6 million tonnes of grain from its Black and Azov seaports every month.

The resumption of grain exports is being overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul where Russian,Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel are working.

The first cargo ship left Ukraine under the agreement on Monday last week, and another three followed on Friday.

The JCC said late on Saturday it had authorized five new vessels to pass through the Black Sea corridor: four vessels outbound from Ukraine’s Chornomorsk and Odesa ports, carrying 161,084 metric tonnes of foodstuffs, and one heading into Ukraine to pick up grain.

CORN, MEAL, SUNFLOWER OIL

The ships that left Ukrainian ports included Glory, with a cargo of 66,000 tonnes of corn bound for Istanbul, and Riva Wind, loaded with 44,000 tonnes of corn, heading for Turkey’s Iskenderun, the Turkish defense ministry said.

It said the other two vessels that left Ukraine were Star Helena, with a cargo of 45,000 tonnes of meal heading to China, and Mustafa Necati, carrying 6,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and heading for Italy.

Later on Sunday, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said the bulk carrier Fulmar S, which had reached the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk on Saturday – the first foreign-flagged ship to arrive in Ukraine since the conflict – was ready for loading.

The JCC said it had nearly finished drafting procedures to implement the grain deal and they would be published in days.

It added that it had also authorized the movement, pending inspection, of Osprey S, inbound for Chornomorsk. That ship is currently at anchorage northwest of Istanbul.

The Turkish Defence Ministry said the JCC had completed inspections of the ship Rojen carrying 13,000 tonnes of corn to Britain, Polarnet which is taking 12,000 tonnes of corn to a Turkish port and Osprey S, which is heading toUkraine.

On Saturday, the JCC completed its inspection of Navistar, the other one of three vessels that left Ukrainian ports on Friday.

The first ship to leave a Ukrainian port under the deal will not arrive in Lebanon on Sunday as planned, the Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon said. The Razoni left Odesa on Monday carrying 26,527 tonnes of corn.

The embassy told Reuters the ship was “having a delay” and “not arriving today,” with no details on a new arrival date or the cause of the delay. Refinitiv Eikon data showed the Razoni off the Turkish coast on Sunday morning.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Maya Gebeily in Beirut;Writing by Daren Butler;Editing by Frances Kerry, Susan Fenton and Andrew Heavens)

Source:https://gcaptain.com/four-more-cargo-ships-sail-from-ukraine/

Carmakers like Tesla brought semi-autonomous electric vehicles to the mainstream, and now a local company wants to do the same for recreational boating.

Grapevine-based Alloy wants to build an electric boat that’s capable of avoiding other boats, docking and even driving itself from place to place under ideal conditions. The company has developed a software prototype and hopes to bring a product to the market in 2024.

“The center for us is smarter, safer boats,” said CEO Brandon Cotter, an entrepreneur who worked on 11 other startups before co-founding Alloy.

Cotter grew up boating, and the idea for Alloy came to him as he and his significant other sat in the back of a boat. They’d been reading about the move toward electric and autonomous cars, and Cotter realized it was only a matter of time before someone capitalized on the same trend in the marine industry.

He founded the company with software engineer Powell Kinney and former MasterCraft Boats CEO John Dorton. The founders assembled a 10-person team that spans the world, from Dallas to Lille, France.

Alloy is currently wrapping up a $2.5 million fundraising round from Texas-based angel investors. The company says it aims to raise $10 million this year.

Like Tesla, Alloy places software at the center of its design process, aiming to reimagine the experience of driving a boat. The company started off by building a software prototype, which a demo video shows driving a boat while navigating around another craft.

“That boat is drivable from an iPad,” Cotter said.

The final product’s level of autonomy will vary based on water conditions. On a clear day with few other boats on the water, the boat will be able to drive itself from place to place. On a windy day with more obstacles, the software may be limited to keeping the driver aware of what’s happening around the boat.

The software is running on a Nautique craft right now, but Cotter hopes Alloy can build its own prototype boat by the end of the year. The startup is partnering with another company to build the electric engine and battery packs.

The biggest challenge for electric boats is energy storage, said John-Michael Donahue, vice president for North American public affairs at the National Marine Manufacturers Association. Batteries are much less energy dense than gasoline, and pushing a boat through water takes more power than propelling a car down the road.

Compared with cars, “it’s going to be a little more challenging, take a little longer for the entire recreational boat fleet to transition to electrification,” Donahue said.

Alloy’s boats will be as lightweight as possible to make them more energy efficient, Cotter said. They’ll also be aimed at people who take their boats out during the day and bring them back to the dock at night to charge.

Although there’s no official count, electric vessels probably make up less than 1% of the 12 million boats registered in the U.S., Donahue said.

But selling even 10,000 to 20,000 boats would introduce a lot of people to electric boating, Cotter said.

“Our mission is to get a million new people on the water safely over the next 10 years,” he said.

Alloy has retrofitted a Nautique vessel with self-driving technology that allows it to be... — Alloy has retrofitted a Nautique vessel with self-driving technology that allows it to be controlled remotely with Alloy’s software.(Mike Reyher)
Source: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2022/08/04/dallas-area-company-aims-to-build-autonomous-electric-boats/

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Maritime Safety News Archives - Page 28 of 258 - SHIP IP LTD

Japanese majors team up on digital engineering technology

US Naval Ship Docks In India For Repairs For The First Time Ever

First Ship Carrying Ukrainian Grain Passes Inspection, Will Continue To Lebanon

Maritime NZ Announces Safer Boating Funding

Japanese companies join forces to build a co-operative simulation platform

No fixed routes for PH, Japan cargo flights: Taipei

No fixed alternative routes between Taiwan and the Philippines and Japan

Taiwan transport authorities say Taipei air control units are coordinating with Philippine and Japan counterparts based on the airspace situation

On the last day of its live-fire drills around Taiwan, China said it will begin on August 8 a month-long series of live-fire drills in Bohai Sea and similar drills for a week from Sunday to August 15 south of the Yellow Sea

RightShip strengthens digital ESG expertise with Thynk acquisition

Bell Buoy Brings 11 Partner Nations Together at RIMPAC 2022

Four More Cargo Ships Sail From Ukraine

Dallas-area company aims to build autonomous, electric boats

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