I’d argue knowing human nature, very likely. BAE foolishly announced that the shipyard workforce would be laid off following completion of the Ocean Evolution, and what did the workers do? Clipped nearly every single wire onboard, requiring a complete rewiring of the vessel and delaying delivery by months. 
That is a subjective ‘good thing’.
You probably do, but not necessarily everybody and everywhere.
BTW; The Ocean Endeavour was designed by Marin Teknikk ASA, who also designed the Yara Birkeland:
I didnt mean a contract guarantee I meant the requirement of that job disappearing hence that job being no longer used anywhere in the world.
This from Gcaptain News today:
The source of this news appears to be Marinelink:
Nothing reported on any delay in the local press yet, that I have seen.
PS> Vard Brevik yard was shut down last year and the hull has arrived at Vard Brattvåg for outfitting, as reported in post # 32.
PS> The research yacht “REV Ocean” is nearing completion at Vard Brattvåg at the moment.
Engineers will always be required. Autonomous or not. These people designing this stuff have never got their hands dirty and no foresight into maintaining equipment. And assume everything will run as brand new. A deck guy here,but these guys have no clue what will happen when some slight thing such as an o ring goes bad. Steering, shifting, etc etc The robot ain’t gonna fix your hydraulics. I wouldn’t want to be an engineer with nobody in the penthouse either.
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Even when there is no engines for them to look after?
If and when this ship eventually sail autonomous and unmanned there wouldn’t be much for\Engineers to do in the operation control room ashore.
Even for maintenance there wouldn’t be much for a traditional ships engineer to do. (Electricians, automation technicians and maybe some cyber security experts, yes)
A ship with no engines? That is a barge.
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Electric motors and thrusters does count as propulsion, but does not require anybody to walk round with a rag in one pocket and a flashlight in the other, while checking gauges and temperatures.
Sorry bug, i just don’t see that. Maybe I’m too old fashioned, but a ship driven by some cat sitting in his living room and no one watching the engines just doesn’t sit right with me. Glad I am retired now, with all these new fangled ideas to put my friends out of work. As if our fleet is not small enough now.
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There has to be something that generates electricity for motors and thrusters, and this equipment would have to be tended. Nope, I have stated all along, these “autonomous” vessels will have to have engineers onboard. . . .
In the case of Yara Birkeland there is no engines or fuel cells that generate power, only batteries that is charged at port calls.
Power source is hydroelectric, thus no emission during passage, or from the power generation.
I know, the ship is made of steel and machinery was used to build the dams, drive the tunnels and/or produce the pipes that carry the water to the turbines. (Back to wooden water wheels to make it totally emission free)
BTW; what is it these ship engineers are going to do on board a ship with no combustion engines, boilers, living quarters or life saving appliances?
Conversely, what will we do when one of these suffers a catastrophic failure? How does a tug get a line on board?
And in general, why is this a good idea? I get that it’s cheaper, at least until it isn’t. But shipping is already the cheapest transport on the planet.
Or perhaps more to the point, when and how will society begin to grapple with the issue of what to do with a work force when there is no more work to be done?
A young engineer looking to a future in the autonomous sector of the industry. What a great opportunity to build a rock solid foundation in the technical and operational aspects of that sector.
I can’t say much for the mates except for them getting exposure to autonomous handling issues but mates aren’t exactly among a growing breed anyway.
The same way it is done by salvage crews today when the ships crew is lifted off at first sign of danger.
Or a tug crew gets on a drifting barge to re-connect towline.
This question has been asked at every turn of modern development and has always been solved, somehow. (remember them Stokers on coal fired steam ships?)
Re-training, re-schooling, or even changing to a totally different carera comes to mind.
In the case of Yara Birkeland, a lot of people will be needed to man the operational control room 24/7 when everybody is working 5 day/week and 7.5 hrs./day + have 5-6 weeks holiday/year. (The Norwegian reality today for shore based work)
But as more and more careers become automated, we end up with more and more people with less and less to do. Is it then bread and circuses forever?
Without the need to learn the skills necessary to perform work, there’ll be no reason to educate the masses. They can collect a guaranteed universal income, and free happy pills will ensure they don’t get bored and start causing trouble.
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Cyril Kornbluth wrote his story The Marching Morons in 1951.
Available online:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Marching Morons, by C. M. Kornbluth.
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In New Zealand we have ferries running between the North and South islands. In 1965 the inter island ferry running the longer route from Lyttelton to Wellington struck Barrett’s reef and sunk with the loss of 51 lives. She encountered winds in excess of 200mph in the entrance which stopped the radar turning in zero visibility. There is a lot more caution now and ferries stop running when the swell gets over 6 metres and there are gale force winds.
Some idiot decided that a new ferry didn’t need accomodation for the crew given that a normal voyage takes 4 hours. The ferry had to shelter for 2 days and at vast expense the vessel had to be retrofitted.
It was also never considered that the vessel would have to dock in Singapore 12 days steaming from NZ.