Make Equipment Smarter, Seize Smart Shipping High Point

Wang Jin

At present, artificial intelligence（AI）has become an important driving force leading a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change, China's shipbuilding enterprises should comply with the development needs of the shipping industry, accelerate the research and application of intelligent technology in the shipbuilding industry, and provide a strong impetus for the development of intelligent shipping.

Intelligent and unmanned operation is an inevitable trend in the future development of the maritime industry. As a new shipping format, intelligent shipping deeply integrates traditional shipping elements with modern information communication and AI, so as to make the shipping production link more economical and reliable, the daily operation link safer and more environmentally friendly, and the supervision and service link more intelligent and efficient. In the eyes of industry insiders, smart shipping has the potential to change the entire shipping industry. On the globe, many countries represented by Northern Europe have long been actively promoting intelligent shipping research, planning to achieve commercial operation of unmanned autonomous ships by 2030; Japan and South Korea and other countries have also formulated very detailed development plans for intelligent shipping as an important way for the transformation and upgrading of the shipbuilding industry, e.g., South Korean shipbuilding companies will rely on independent navigation technology in the first quarter of this year to carry out large-scale merchant ships across the ocean. It can be said that the industrial competition around smart shipping is intensifying. Since intelligent shipping is a global linkage industry, once backward in the competition, one will hardly have the discourse right, and the core element of intelligent shipping is the independent navigation of ships; therefore, China's shipbuilding enterprises should seize the opportunity of intelligent shipping and play a key role in leading the development of intelligent shipping.

In recent years, China's intelligent shipping has maintained a vigorous development trend. In November 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued a notice on organizing pilot applications of autonomous driving and intelligent shipping, and decided to organize the pilot application of intelligent shipping. This has injected new impetus into the development and application of intelligent shipping technology. Meanwhile, China has also made positive progress in the development of intelligent shipping and intelligent ship standard system, the "Ship Intelligent Navigation System Classification and Technical Level Assessment" standard has passed the review, will be officially implemented on March 1 this year, marine software, ship network system, intelligent integration platform, ship intelligent engine room and other test specifications are also constantly improving. “Da Zhi”, “Ming Yuan” and “Kai Zheng” became the recipients of the China Classification Society (CCS) intelligent ship class symbol of the world's first bulk carrier, VLOC and VLCC, "Changjiang Shipping 001", "Zhi Fei", "Guo Chuang" and other inland green intelligent ships were built one after another, and the intelligent construction and digital construction capabilities of engineering ships have gradually expanded. It can be said that China is the first country to carry out important work in the application of smart ships, and many different types of ships have been named and put into operation under the name of smart ships, and have also accumulated experience in actual shipping. Moreover, Chinese shipbuilding companies have played an important role in promoting the development of intelligent shipping.

However, the development of intelligent shipping technology is complex and arduous, posing great challenges to ship R&D and manufacturing. Industry experts believe that intelligent ships incorporate various intelligent system integration platforms such as information perception, route planning, status monitoring and fault diagnosis and maintenance, autonomous navigation, distress early warning and rescue, etc., and must focus on breaking through key technologies. For example, unmanned ships are unlikely to be completely out of human control, so remote control centers (RCCs) have become an important part of smart ship systems, which is also a major theme in the development of smart ships. At the same time, intelligent ships need digital network technology, recognition sensing and measurement technology, intelligent robot technology as support, and need embodiment of the automation and intelligence of marine equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the introduction, digestion and absorption, system technology integration and independent innovation of marine equipment technology, and promote the accelerated development of intelligent ships. In addition, shipbuilding companies should also actively participate in building an innovation ecosystem, creating an open cooperation mechanism to standardize the communication and information technology systems of ships, ports, coastal services and the entire shipping industry.

China is the world's largest shipping country in terms of shipping volume and second largest shipping capacity, and intelligent shipping will also usher in a period of great development. With institutional and mass advantages of China's shipping enterprises, intelligent shipping has the conditions to achieve major breakthroughs in China. Once a series of key technologies are conquered, it means that China will become a global intelligent shipping technology innovation center, on a par with other shipping powers in the era of intelligent shipping. It is believed that by making full use of favorable conditions and advantages, China's shipbuilding enterprises will continue to make new breakthroughs in the field of intelligent ships, lead the new wave of shipbuilding in the future, and help build a marine power and a transport power.