What. Crew did they have

Yes you’ll have jobs for a long time to come. Autonomous ocean crossing ships are still a bit out in the future. When that happen it will be with well tested systems on smaller ships and ferries and probably without any diesel engines for propulsion or power supply.

You should worry more about the future of the oil industry. How much longer will there be a need to search for new oil & gas resources?
“The stone age didn’t end because of lack of stones. The Oil Age will not end because of lack of oil”.
It will end because there is less and less demand for crude oil. Not this year, or the next, but demand is already falling. Alternative energy sources are becoming cheaper and more accessible.
Time to look for a new industry? Not yet, but it depends on how much longer you intend to work.
If you are young, this is a good time to start looking and upgrading yourself for the jobs of the future.

Why, when there are nobody onboard to manually operate the controls??
The nearest to a manual control will probably be “plug & play” control via a portable computer carried by service personnel and maintenance people.
This will require strong access code, or possibly security features that hasn’t been invented yet. (We are not talking about ships of today, with today’s technology only)

Like I said, they will not get stolen by humans climbing on them, they will be repurposed by either terrorists, thieves, or bored teenagers from 10,000 miles away :wink:
edit - that said, it will be some time before a ship that physically cannot be steered by the humans aboard it get invented.

I wouldn’t trust that thing for a second with me not able to turn it off, but the day is coming at some point.

Autonomous ships along with trucks is a given. The technology is advancing rapidly… While one may be able to move a ship from point A to B without navigational crew there will still be a demand for people on onboard to monitor and and repair the systems. People with those qualifications will demand top dollar. I foresee a change in the total number of people but I do also foresee a change in the qualifications of the crew. Whether or not that results in a cost savings for the ship owners remains to be seen.

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Myself, I’m not worried about the oil industry that much & don’t suspect individual who lived during the stone age worried about that era ending either. Things change & individuals shouldn’t worry about the big picture too much & focus on adapting & finding their individual happiness instead. Already the offshore oil field industry is cutting edge & the skills & credentialing required has reduced the amount of jobs for mariners in some places. The ones who are still needed & can hold on should be top notch compared to the riffraff decades ago.

For me, research & government funded work is the way to go. Welfare for mariners & vessel operators. No proof of showing a profit required.

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Go visit a posh yatch club or a pier where pleasure boater/fishermen load up & you’ll see there’s some who need all the help they can get tie’ing up. The ones who buy it likely need it.

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Well said. For much too long, due to the oil boom of past, mariners sought the highest pay with little regard for how long it would last. Amortized over the years they made less than some of my friends who stuck to bulk carriers, research and dredgers among other niche shipping. I doubt there will ever be another oil boom as we had in the past. So if one wants a job in the business of sailing on ships do it as I and my friends did it many years ago. Take it as a job that lets you learn a trade and meet people from all over the world. You won’t get rich monetarily, though you well may do better than your land based brethren, but you’ll gain something money cannot buy.

Petroleum will be a valuable feedstock for chemicals far past our lifetimes. The industry might change, but it is not going to vanish IMHO.

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I agree completely. The either/or option for crewing vs. autonomous is too extreme. Ships are expensive. Owners need to protect their investment. A tiny crew would be a prudent investment in loss prevention. If someone hacks the ship, the crew simply overrides.

It will happen first with deep sea vessels. Two, maybe three engineers, with specialized knowledge to interact with the pilots/tugs that will bring the ship to the dock, and also to keep the satellite comms running. A pretty highly paid position, because of the systems knowledge they will need to have.

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The problem as I see it is not the trans ocean voyage but having discharged and loaded a part cargo in say Los Angeles is the voyage to San Francisco. Think of the requirements now and then getting the world’s littoral states to agree when the vessel is mixing it with other shipping and watercraft.
The machinery would have to be completely different from what we have today, fuel cells maybe?
If I was an engineer trained to interact with the pilot on port entry most of the very large sum of money you would have to pay me would go in liability insurance.

I’m not talking about the autodocking system developed for pleasure boats by Volvo Penta.
There are several systems already developed and in use on car ferries in Norway

A lot of the saving in cost comes from not having any living quarter that requires A/C, heating, water and sewer systems, galley, food stores and LSA:

I don’t see ships with conventional diesel engine(s) burning heavy fuel, or even MGO being unmanned. Possibly with modified Diesel engine(s) that use methanol or ammonia as fuel.(Already developed and in use on a few ships)

Here is what I see in my crystal ball:

  • Most likely the power source will be fuel cells using hydrogen, or ammonia as fuel.
  • Possibly molten salt reactors will be the power source of choice in the long run.
  • In any case, the ships will operate without a crew on board from wharf to wharf, which will enhance safety and security.
  • The vessel will be remotely monitored during passage across oceans.
  • If anybody should board the vessel, propulsion will shut down, either automatically or remotely.
  • No facilities to restart from onboard control panels, only by remote control.
  • If anybody try to take illegal control remotely the shore based control centre can shut down the systems by using an encrypted emergency code
  • Pilotage will be by remote control, not by a pilot boarding the vessel.
  • Mooring will be automated, as will plug-in of shore supply once moored.
  • Maintenance and service will be by shore based personnel, either local or flown in. (probably a mix of both)

PS> This will initially apply to ships trading between major ports only.
It will take decades before most ports are able to handle such ships, so there will still be jobs for those who do not upgrade to meet the requirement for jobs associated with the autonomous ships, either in management, in the control centres, or as service/maintenance personnel.

Here is a link to Kongsberg’s website about their development of autonomous ships:

This concept seems reasonable and likely for non-passenger vessels.

I was not implying Volvo would sell the exact same thing to run a tanker, but once it exists for some kind of boat it tends to spread up and down the whole spectrum of watercraft. Varieties of DP existed in the commercial world long before it spread as far down as center console runabouts, I expect self-docking might spread the other way :wink:

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I just found out DP racing marks now exist, instead of a mark boat dropping them, you program them and they drive themselves out in position and come home again after the race.

That’s interesting. My yacht club won’t be in that league but do you have a link or example where they are used?

Right now the crew is definitely paid for by the fuel savings of a maintenance-hog slow speed running HFO.

Exactly. I have always thought that “Autonomous” vessels will still require engineers. . . . .

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No Engines = No Engineers. Having to carry Engineers, or any other crew defeat the purpose. If any crew onboard on passage is require that means all the services that goes with it is also required.

There will not be any unmanned ships in ocean crossing service until alternative propulsion technology to replace conventional diesel engines, burning HFO or MDO/MGO, has been thoroughly tested on manned ships.

Testing has now started, but only on a few ships yet and with different technologies and fuels.
Which technology and which fuel will be used in the future is still not clear AFAIK.