Future of ships

[quote=“ombugge, post:449, topic:16030”]
Just wonder if she can pass under the bridges at Bosphorus without removing top of the “tower”??
I was involved in preparing two Jackups for passage under those bridges, which involved not only removing most of the legs, but also top of the derrick.
[/quote] Probably not, but if it’s a good contract then it will be worth the breaking down and building back up both coming and going.

[quote=“rmurphy1966, post:450, topic:16030, full:true”]

I just remembered from inspecting the Bully I & II that the top of the tower is indeed designed to be easily removed and re-installed just for that purpose:

This taken from the Huisman web site. Here is a link for those who would like to know more about this equipment: HuisDrill 12000 drill ship - Huisman Equipment

Have your say on Autonomous ships and more: http://splash247.com/unmanned-ship-debate-mirrors-earlier-ecoship-marketing/

Maybe the technology has already passed the level of humans ability?: http://www.ship-technology.com/features/featureis-technology-making-ships-too-complex-5881688/

So, is the answer to go a step further and remove the human factor altogether, or to go back to a simpler date?

I have seen the result when there are a dozen screens on the bridge to “make it easy” for the OOW:


(Somebody may recognize this bridge?)

When an alarm sounds he first have to determine what is the reason, then try to silence it by pressing buttons all over the place. Stressful and taking the concentration away from watching what is happening in the real world, outside the bridge windows.

I know that the latest development is towards fewer screens and one alarm silencing button, but there are still too many vessels with bridge designs made by people with no practical experience and without consultation with those who have.

Here is an example from an AHTS with Azimuth thruster, where ALL manoeuvre handles were on the same console at the Aft Controls:


As can be seen, the Captain had found a solution. He used the Joystick, even when handling anchors. (Not an easy or efficient thing to do)

But the problem was that the Chief Engineer handling the Winch Panel was standing between him and the window were he could see the crew working on deck:


To make it worse, the Captain was a short Indonesian and the C/Eng. just about the biggest Pinoy you could find.

The first picture is a DP semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit. A key help was different tones of alarms and as you got familiar with your vessel you would know which console the alarm was from. Also, several of the consoles (the ones with joysticks) were duplicates of each other (if one main DP operator station failed on the vessel in the picture, you had two or three more you could choose to work from), and you would have certain consoles with more relevant ‘alarms’ depending on the mode of operation at the time. Three or four other consoles all controlled the same systems and you could acknowledge alarms on those from any console. And if you are only silencing alarms, you are not doing your job.

So it’s not nearly as complex when it comes to alarm management as one would think. It’s true, some bridge designs stink, and some bridge layouts on DP vessels are poorly laid out and contribute to accidents. But don’t forget the context of what the vessel is supposed to do. I have also seen several vessels with very well laid out bridges.

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More Future technology that is already here and will be seen in use soon: https://www.green4sea.com/worlds-most-eco-friendly-cruise-ship-designed-in-spain/
She will not be unmanned though. That wouldn’t be possible. How could you have cruise ship with no Captain to host the Captain’s Dinner?

Oh I remember, somebody suggested hiring an actor to do that duty.
(Maybe a certain ex-Captain with cruise ship experience would do too. He just have to get out of jail first)

Is the first autonomous ships already in operation in USA?: https://aksjelive.e24.no/tesla-musk-avviser-at-yara-skip-er-forst-uten-mannskap/1501494489457

More on these converted barges in English: http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/spacexs-landing-drone-ship-is-just-as-complicated-as-th-1769987148

Calling them autonomous may be a stretch of the term. Remotely operated from a nearby support vessels is not exactly “autonomous”.

That is a barge, they can call it whatever they want but it is not a ship.

It has a ABS Class Notations: Barge

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I thought someone would recognize the bridge picture from Development Driller 1, which was taken during sea trials in Singapore just before departing for GoM. At that stage everybody was fairly new and alarms were one of their main grievances.

Yes there are good and bad layout, both for DP rigs, Drillships and other Offshore vessels. The Rolls-Royce Unified Bridge is one of the best in the business: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU16e7wZtYw

For tugs RRM has special designed bridge control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27uCL90s20o

The ultimate bridge design for Offshore vessels is probably the latest Ulstein Bridge Vision, with overhead displays, but it may be a while before too many of those shows up, given the near stop in building new such vessels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A1zgxTlsck

I hope they will match the big windows with equally powerful air-conditioning for operation in tropical climate.

Here’s an amusing tweet from Musk about it.

Yup, good 'ol DD1.

I actually liked the bridge layout for DP operations, although it was certainly cozy and even more so during an emergency or a drill.

It could always get better, but overall a nice setup.

Will one of these show up in the GoM sometime soon??: http://maritime-executive.com/article/diamond-and-huisman-design-next-generation-drillship
Noble already have 4 drillships withe Huisman 1200 drilling towers and I believe at least one has operated in the GoM in the past.

Anybody here with ACTUAL experience with it, not just negative hearsay and FEELINGS that because it is new and foreign, it is therefore dangerous and inefficient.

I attended the two built in Singapore as MWS, but at that time they obviously hadn’t actually been in use.

When I saw this tweet I really laughed my liquids out. Fantastic. I image streams of prime service specialists with bread and butter boxes swarming about to find their assigned repair space. :-))

An article in TU kind of condense the problems and possibilities that open up with the development of autonomous ships in the not too far future: https://www.tu.no/artikler/nyskapende-teknologier-kan-gi-baerekraftig-skipsfart/398447

Will this come? Yes it will, regardless of resistance from certain quarters.
Will this create or destroy jobs? Both. Traditional jobs at sea will be diminished. There will still be a need for crew on some type of ships, but maybe not in the traditional deck and engine room positions we have today.
New jobs will be created ashore that will require some of the skills of present day seafarers, but with additional skills to suite the new ways of operating ships that will be required. Where those jobs will be situated is left to be seen though.

After an initial test period of maybe 1 year, the vessel will have no “operator” on board, but will be remotely controlled from a shore based control centre.

If you are referring to the Yara Birkeland, it is the intention that the vessel will have somebody on board initially, but be remotely operated, then be operated crewless for abt. 1 year, before becoming totally autonomous in 2020. This is assuming that all systems are working and regulations allow.

I recall years ago a passenger ship grounding of the east coast of the U.S. Apparently a connection to the GPS antenna had broken and the vessel was DRing. Will an autonomous vessel be taking ranges and bearings or shooting stars to back up the GPS? Nothing is perfect and equipment does break and malfunction.

Also, what is to stop or, at least notify “authorities”, if the vessel is boarded? Sure there can be cameras and sensors but those won’t prevent a boarding. If some group targets valuable cargo well out so sea how long will it take to send the ship police to the ship? Even then if the ship is taken over who will know where to find it?

Being from an OSV background I don’t think oil companies will allow completely autonomous ships next to the rigs any time soon but, remotely controlled ones, that’s the immediate future. You can already take control of the DP systems from anywhere, and the throttles and rudders and electronical controlled as well for the DP system so ship control is already done. It’s just a matter of relaying the navigation info back to the guy on watch.

What will happen is I will sit at my desk at home wearing some type of VR system with A DP panel and hopefully a set of throttle and rudder controls for more direct input when needed. Relaying of the DP system to move a boat for anything other then operation in the field even on joystick blows. Takes too long for commands to happen. There will be cameras that move with my head giving me 360 degree field of vision, along with other cameras as needed for cargo ops and docking. I’ve already been on boats where I would use the cameras exclusively to dock and it was no big deal. Hopefully some rotary dials that I can assign to various things like radio channel selection, radar range, etc. to make work flow a little better.

In the VR helmet you could have an overlay of the radar, ECDIS, and AIS systems as you look out the “window” to help you navigate. Imagine going down a channel at night with the banks overlaid with the FLIR, ECDIS chart and radar image. There is a bend up ahead you see the AIS buble pop up for a vessel with its info that you can’t see yet. You look down to check your traditional radar to get an idea of it’s position and make a radio call to arrange passing.

The biggest issue I see is connectivity. Satellites are great and work most of the time, but are weather and heading dependant on some vessels. So there would need to be some type of redundancy. I know in the GOM there are enough structures that 4g wireless could be done for all of the shelf and a lot or the deep water.

What I think will happen before that is you will see a convoy of OSV’s with all of them controlled by a mother ship headed to a rig. With direct data connection using WIFI to control them

Gulfmark was part of another test to prove the feasibility of remote operation of offshore vessels: https://sysla.no/maritim/dette-skipet-ble-fjernstyrt-fire-timer/
If they can sit in Nevada and kill people on the other side of the world, why not operate ships the same way??

Same from Splash 24/7 today: http://splash247.com/psv-off-scotland-driven-remotely-san-diego/

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