News

SeaShuttle, an ambitious project to build two hydrogen-powered, remotely controlled and autonomous-ready container ships for delivery by 2025, has secured NOK 150 million (EUR 15 million) in funding from Norwegian state enterprise ENOVA. The vessels are planned to sail between Norway and the Netherlands.

The bold scheme, led by multimodal transport and logistics group Samskip and marine robotics specialist Ocean Infinity, envisages two SeaShuttle ships operating emissions-free between Oslo Fjord and Rotterdam, with each powered by a 3.2-MW hydrogen fuel cell.

ENOVA, which operates under Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment, promotes a shift towards more environmentally friendly energy consumption and production, as well as technologies based on sustainable energy.

Emissions-free container shipping

Originally announced at Nor-Shipping 2022, Oslo, in April, the Samskip-Ocean Infinity partnership covers both the construction and operation of the ships, in a collaboration seeking to push forward towards zero-emission, efficient and safe, multimodal logistics.

‘Securing this funding provides a platform to make emissions-free container shipping a reality,’ says Are Gråthen, CEO, Samskip Norway. ‘Together, Samskip and Ocean Infinity will also accelerate their plans to advance autonomous ship technologies, and remote operation of ships and cargo handling equipment. These ships are the first part of an exciting collaboration with Ocean Infinity.’

Green corridor

In line with commitments given at the COP26 Clydebank Declaration, SeaShuttle would create what amounted to one of Europe’s first zero-emission “green corridors”, Gråthen added.

Christoffer Jorgenvag, CCO, Ocean Infinity, comments: ‘Ocean Infinity’s enabling technologies can facilitate green corridors, but also the broader decarbonisation and transformation of maritime operations. The emphasis today is on the SeaShuttle vessels, which are just part of Ocean Infinity’s overall strategy of unlocking innovation to deliver truly sustainable maritime operations.’

The funding means the partners can move forward to contract two new 500-TEU ships installed with a main propulsion solution that can be adapted to run on hydrogen fuel. A diesel electric propulsion plant will be on board as back up, although Gråthen emphasises: ‘We have faith that green hydrogen will be affordable and available in Norway.’

Kari-Pekka Laaksonen, Group CEO, Samskip: ‘The SeaShuttle project is a substantial step in Samskip’s journey towards zero emission logistics. Its combination of fuel, technology and operational best practice is expected to make emissions-free shortsea shipping cost competitive with existing solutions.’

SeaShuttle, the ambitious project to build two hydrogen-powered, remotely controlled and autonomous-ready containerships for delivery by 2025 has secured NOK150 million (€15M) in funding from Norwegian state enterprise ENOVA.

The bold scheme, led by multimodal transport and logistics group Samskip and marine robotics specialist Ocean Infinity, envisages two SeaShuttle ships operating emissions-free between Oslo Fjord and Rotterdam, with each powered by a 3.2MW hydrogen fuel cell.

ENOVA, which operates under Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment, promotes a shift towards more environmentally friendly energy consumption and production, as well as technologies based on sustainable energy.

Originally announced at Nor-Shipping 2022, Oslo, in April, the Samskip-Ocean Infinity partnership covers both the construction and operation of the ships, in a collaboration seeking to push forward towards zero-emission, efficient and safe, multimodal logistics.

“Samskip is very proud to take the lead role in pioneering the SeaShuttle initiative, as part of its ‘making green logistics easy’ strategy,” said Are Gråthen, CEO, Samskip Norway. “Securing this funding provides a platform to make emissions-free container shipping a reality. Together, Samskip and Ocean Infinity will also accelerate their plans to advance autonomous ship technologies, and remote operation of ships and cargo handling equipment. These ships are the first part of an exciting collaboration with Ocean Infinity.”

In line with commitments given at COP26 Clydebank Declaration, SeaShuttle would create what amounted to one of Europe’s first zero-emission ‘green corridors’, Gråthen added.

Christoffer Jorgenvag, CCO, Ocean Infinity, commented: “Ocean Infinity’s enabling technologies can facilitate green corridors but also the broader decarbonisation and transformation of maritime operations. The emphasis today is on the SeaShuttle vessels, which are just part of Ocean Infinity’s overall strategy of unlocking innovation to deliver truly sustainable maritime operations. We would like to thank Enova for their support for our vision which represents a firm endorsement of our ground-breaking approach and allows us to proceed at full speed in bringing this project to life.”

The funding means the partners can move forward to contract two new 500TEU ships installed with a main propulsion solution that can be adapted to run on hydrogen fuel. Diesel electric propulsion plant will be on board as back up, although Gråthen emphasized: “We have faith that green hydrogen will be affordable and available in Norway”.

Kari-Pekka Laaksonen, Group CEO, Samskip commented: “For Samskip, sustainability is one of the fundamentals of doing business. The SeaShuttle project is a substantial step in Samskip’s journey towards zero emission logistics. Its combination of fuel, technology and operational best practice is expected to make emissions-free shortsea shipping cost competitive with existing solutions.

As the maritime sector deals with digital transformation and decarbonization pressures, seafarers face increasingly complex and difficult industry challenges, and it appears collaborative working may be the only way to create one accurate, comprehensive data source.

Danelec works with over 10,000 vessels, and these vessels now have the opportunity to access the i4 Insight platform with no extra equipment costs.

Joel Meltzner, i4 Insight CEO explains; “Danelec are experts at accessing and collecting vessel data, they have equipment installed on thousands of vessels. Our new partnership now means that the Danelec data can be fed directly into our i4 fleet optimzation platform for AI analysis without any further equipment being installed. We can use this data to provide accurate and actionable insights for ship owners and charterers to improve vessel performance”

Casper Jensen, CEO Danelec, said; “Partnering with i4 allows us to offer our customers a quick and easy plug-and-play solution to utilise the navigational and engine room data collected onboard to improve vessel efficiency while reducing their carbon footprint to comply with upcoming emission reduction regulations”

We are extremely excited about the future of this new relationship and look forward to jointly supporting many more ship owners and charterers.

Opsealog, a provider of digital performance management solutions for shipping, has formally announced its partnership with French ferry operator La Méridionale to digitize and optimize the operations of its fleet, which transports passengers and cargo between France, Corsica, and Morocco.

Opsealog’s reporting software, Streamlog, has been deployed on all four of La Méridionale’s vessels from January 2022. This has enabled the ferry operator to digitize its environmental reporting, with automated reports generated to ensure compliance with the requirements of the EU’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) regime and the IMO’s Data Collection System (DCS). Daily noon reports as well as performance dashboards and alerts are now available for managers through Opsealog’s performance management application, Marinsights.

This digitalization process has resulted in significant time savings for crews on board, who can now easily submit reports through a single platform, instead of having to fill multiple spreadsheets manually. It has also brought major benefits for managers ashore, who no longer have to aggregate key information from different “siloed” sources. The increased data quality has improved the reliability of reporting, reducing errors by 95%. Moreover, having reports available daily – rather than waiting several months for the data to be processed – enables crews and managers to adjust operations for each vessel on an ongoing basis.

The next steps will include the digitalization of other key reports, such as monthly machine and waste monitoring reports, as well as fuel consumption, delays and commercial KPIs. The partners also aim to use data-driven insights to improve the fleet’s environmental performance, supporting compliance with environmental regulations such as IMO’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) requirements.

Christophe Séguinot, Technical Director at La Méridionale said: “At La Méridionale, we are proud to be green pioneers, and have been taking tangible action for over a decade to reduce the environmental footprint of our services. Our flagship ferry Piana, for example, is the first vessel in the world fitted with a particles filter, eliminating 99.9% of SOx and ultra-fine particles (PM<1). We are as well the very first French Company to use the Electrical Shore Connection at berth since 2017.

“Now, our digital transformation is a strategic priority, and one that goes hand in hand with our commitment to the planet and the climate. The first few months of our partnership with Opsealog have already helped our team save time and given our managers better visibility on our operations. We look forward to the next steps, as we continue to harness the potential of data to unlock even more efficiencies and sustainability in our operations.”

Arnaud Dianoux, founder and managing director of Opsealog, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with La Méridionale, using our unique combination of digital and human expertise to improve data quality and monitoring, and ultimately help a genuine leader in sustainable ferry services achieve its decarbonisation ambitions. Through this partnership, we also demonstrate that digital solutions can be lightweight, flexible, and reliable even in difficult environments with very low connectivity and bandwidth.

“At Opsealog, we fundamentally believe that good data management is an essential pillar of shipping’s sustainability transition, giving companies the visibility they need to assess their starting point, identify potential efficiency gains, measure their progress, and demonstrate their compliance with existing and upcoming emissions regulations. After achieving an average of 15%, and up to 22%, fuel and emissions reductions with companies in the offshore sector, we are proud to bring our concept of ‘efficiency as a service’ to an expanded pool of partners in commercial shipping.”
Source: Opsealog

Our new associate member Port Technology International held an online cybersecurity event for ports and terminals yesterday for over 200 maritime and port professionals. Opening the conference, IAPH Data Collaboration chairman Pascal Ollivier (president, Maritime Street) made a keynote on key insights and practices based on the work completed by over 20 authors from our membership ranks for the IAPH Cybersecurity Guidelines for Ports and Port Facilities. The document was recently endorsed by IMO during FAL-76 and will be mentioned in MSC-FAL.1/Circ.3, effectively establishing a port industry standard alongside the BIMCO cybersecurity guidelines for shipping. In addition, two authors of the guidelines (Max Bobys of Hudson Cyber and Gadi Benmoshe of Marinnovators) took part in the panel discussion on how ports and terminals can build effective resilience against evolving cyber threats.

The June 22 vote also adopted positions on a carbon border tax and social climate fund, making up three key pillars of the “Fit for 55” package.

The proposals will next be negotiated with member states, a process which may prove difficult as Europe faces rising energy prices, high inflation and war in Ukraine.

The European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) welcomed the European Parliament’s support for ETS, particularly the Ocean Fund and pass-through of ETS costs to vessel operators.

The parliament’s position would create a shipping industry fund to invest 75% of ETS revenues generated by shipping to support the sector’s transition to greener energy. The pass-through would make a vessel’s commercial operators contractually liable for ETS costs, the subject of some friction between owners and operators.

The EU ETS is set to come into force in January 2023 with a four-year adjustment period. For shipping, the ETS will cover 50% of emissions from voyages to and from third countries during the transition period, and 100% of those emissions from January 2027. Parliament also rewrote a phased transition for shipping companies over the four-year period, instead opting for payment of 100% of due allowances from January 2024.

“The Parliament’s vote is a strong signal that the European policy-makers listen to us and take into account the proposals of our sector. We need all hands on deck and the role of the commercial operators is key for reducing emissions,” said ECSA secretary general Sotiris Raptis.

“The earmarking of the revenues to shipping is a prerequisite for financing the uptake of cleaner fuels. It’s a make-or-break moment for the decarbonisation of shipping and the competitiveness of the sector” said Raptis.

The latest vote followed a tense vote on June 8, in which the ETS was rejected after attempts to water it down, and members jeered and booed in the chamber.

Just under 402 years ago, in August of 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Southampton, England, bound for America. The 100-foot-long-long, triple-masted wooden vessel with canvas sails took more than two months to cross the Atlantic. It carried 102 passengers, had a max speed of three knots an hour (that’s about 6 kilometers or 3.7 miles an hour) and required a crew of 30 to operate.

Earlier this month, another Mayflower crossed the Atlantic, but it couldn’t have been more different from its namesake in almost every way. The one similarity was that, well, it was also a boat.

The differences? The new Mayflower—logically dubbed the Mayflower 400—is a 50-foot-long trimaran (that’s a boat that has one main hull with a smaller hull attached on either side), can go up to 10 knots or 18.5 kilometers an hour, is powered by electric motors that run on solar energy (with diesel as a backup if needed), and required a crew of… zero.

That’s because the ship was navigated by an on-board AI. Like a self-driving car, the ship was tricked out with multiple cameras (6 of them) and sensors (45 of them) to feed the AI information about its surroundings and help it make wise navigation decisions, such as re-routing around spots with bad weather. There’s also onboard radar and GPS, as well as altitude and water-depth detectors.

The ship and its voyage were a collaboration between IBM and a marine research non-profit called ProMare. Engineers trained the Mayflower 400’s “AI Captain” on petabytes of data; according to an IBM overview about the ship, its decisions are based on if/then rules and machine learning models for pattern recognition, but also go beyond these standards. The algorithm “learns from the outcomes of its decisions, makes predictions about the future, manages risks, and refines its knowledge through experience.” It’s also able to integrate far more inputs in real time than a human is capable of.

The training included teaching the algorithm to identify objects in its path like cargo ships, fishing vessels, or shipping containers floating in the water.

For all its training and preparation, though, the Mayflower 400 ended up falling a bit short of its goal.

It set sail from Plymouth, England on April 29 and was meant to take three weeks to arrive in Washington, DC—but a mechanical issue ended up derailing it to the Canadian port of Halifax. Details weren’t specified, but it may have been something similar to what happened during the ship’s first attempted voyage in 2021, when a metal component on the backup generator fractured, and solar power alone wasn’t enough for the ship to complete its journey.

The Mayflower 400’s engineers will doubtless press on, though, and are likely already planning another voyage for the high-tech autonomous ship. Despite the snafus, it’s pretty amazing to contemplate how far technology has come since the original Mayflower crossed the Atlantic. Makes you wonder what a similar voyage will look like 400 years from now; from hydrogen-powered airships to civilian submarines to faster, sleeker AI-powered solar vessels, it seems anything is possible.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship Project (MAS400) is a collaboration between ProMare and IBM Research. The project is also affiliated with the Submergence Group, A U.K. company that “designs and manufactures manned and unmanned submersibles.” (2)

In a recent press release, IBM provided the following description of the fully autonomous marine vessel with an “AI Captain”:

“In a voyage lasting 40 days and conquering approximately 3,500 unmanned miles at sea, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship arrived in North America in Halifax, Nova Scotia on June 5, 2022. Following two years of design, construction, and AI model training, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) was officially launched in September 2020. Fast forward to today, June 6, 2022, we celebrate the completion of MAS’s historic transatlantic voyage from Plymouth, UK to its North American arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia yesterday, June 5. With no human captain or onboard crew, MAS is the first self-directed autonomous ship with technology that is scalable and extendible to traverse the Atlantic Ocean.” (1)

Fast Company reports that the MAS400 was “originally headed to Washington, D.C., the ship—which is propelled by a solar-driven hybrid electric motor and backup diesel generator, and guided by artificial intelligence, cloud, and edge computing technologies—diverted to Canada last week so the team could fix a faulty generator starter. Later this month, it will continue to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the first Mayflower landed in 1620, before arriving in D.C. in July.” (2)

A project to develop hydrogen-powered, remotely controlled, and autonomous-ready containerships is moving forward with a funding grant from Norway. The project, which is being led by the Dutch intermodal transport company Samskip and marine robotics company Ocean Infinity, targets launching by 2025 saying it could enable one of Europe’s first green corridors.

Called SeaShuttle, the project calls for two vessels that would operate between Norway’s Oslofjord and Rotterdam in the Netherlands each with a capacity of 500 TEU. The Samskip-Ocean Infinity partnership covers both the construction and operation of the ships, in a collaboration that seeks to push forward towards zero-emission, efficient and safe, multimodal logistics. Each of the SeaShuttles would be powered by a 3.2MW hydrogen fuel cell.

Announced in April 2022, the project is taking its next step forward with a $15 million funding commitment from ENOVA. The state enterprise which operates under Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment, is designed to promote a shift towards more environmentally friendly energy consumption and production, as well as technologies based on sustainable energy.

“Securing this funding provides a platform to make emissions-free container shipping a reality,” said Are Gråthen, CEO of Samskip Norway. “Together, Samskip and Ocean Infinity will also accelerate their plans to advance autonomous ship technologies, and remote operation of ships and cargo handling equipment.”

According to the companies, SeaShuttle could create what amounted to one of Europe’s first zero-emission green corridors and serve as a demonstration for other projects. Several other projects are also under development to launch in Norway, but they are focusing on short sea routes. Work began last year on building a pair of autonomous, all-electric ro/ro cargo vessels for Norwegian grocery distributor Asko. They will operate crossing the Oslofjord, while Furniture manufacturer Ekornes announced it was partnering with German logistic company DB Schenker along with design firm Naval Dynamics for the study of the new autonomous vessel to operate on a 23-mile route in Norway. Yara has also begun testing on the Yara Birkeland targeting completing certification for autonomous operations by 2024.

Christoffer Jorgenvag, CCO, Ocean Infinity, commented: “Ocean Infinity’s enabling technologies can facilitate green corridors but also the broader decarbonization and transformation of maritime operations. The emphasis today is on the SeaShuttle vessels, which are just part of Ocean Infinity’s overall strategy of unlocking innovation to deliver truly sustainable maritime operations.”

The companies said that the funding means the partners can move forward to contract for two new 500TEU ships installed with a main propulsion solution that can be adapted to run on hydrogen fuel. A diesel-electric propulsion plant will also be on board as backup, although Gråthen emphasized, “We have faith that green hydrogen will be affordable and available in Norway.”

The board of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the world’s largest shipowners’ association, has appointed Emanuele Grimaldi as its new chairman of the board. He takes over from chairman Esben Poulsson, who has helped guide ICS since 2016.

Grimaldi is a former president of Confitarma and the European Community Shipowners Associations (ECSA), as well as president of Grimaldi Euromed. Working alongside ICS Secretary General Guy Platten, he will work with ICS’ membership on the key issues of the day, including digitalization and decarbonization.

“I am honored to represent the shipping industry at this crucial juncture in our history,” said Grimaldi. “The world is changing, and shipping must change with it. Fundamental transformation to our fuel supplies, our technology, and the skillsets of our workforce will define the direction shipping takes this decade.”

Outgoing chairman Poulsson is the executive chairmen of Enesel Pte Ltd., a Singaporean container ship owner, among other corporate board positions. Over the course of his three terms as chairman of ICS, he sought to ensure that shipping’s GHG emissions remain regulated by IMO under a set of global rules, and he worked to build unity among shipowners for a net-zero by 2050 emissions target. He was also a prominent advocate for the association’s plan for a low-carbon research levy on bunker fuel, among other major initiatives.

“I cannot thank outgoing chair, Esben Poulsson, enough for his six years of leadership and companionship. Expertly navigating ICS through several major events, including the COVID-19 crew change crisis, a rise in piracy, and the Suez Canal blockage,” said ICS Secretary General Guy Platten.

Funding for hydrogen SeaShuttle container ship that will connect Norway and the Netherlands

Emissions-free container shipping

Green corridor

Samskip and Ocean Infinity secure funds to drive forward hydrogen-fuelled SeaShuttle container ship

Danelec Joins Forces with i4 Insight AI Technology

Opsealog digitizes and streamlines environmental reporting for La Méridionale

Port Technology International hosted IAPH cyber experts

European Parliament passes ETS shipping changes

An Autonomous Ship Used AI to Cross the Atlantic Without a Human Crew

Autonomous Everything: The First Autonomous Ship Crosses the Atlantic Ocean

Hydrogen-Powered Autonomous Containership Receives $15M in Funding

Emanuele Grimaldi Takes Up the Mantle as ICS Chairman

How AI Is Transforming Maritime Operations – Key Developments in the Last Month (Dec 2025)

Crew Fatigue, Rest-Hour Compliance and the Role of CrewExpress STCW

Keeping Your IHM Up-to-Date: What Ship-Operators Must Know in 2025

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