Russia announced a series of projects in the field of unmanned navigation

In the framework of the international exhibition SMM in Hamburg,  MARINET hosted the international conference dedicated to the most promising technologies for the maritime industry, which was attended by companies and research centers from different countries of the world.

The conference program included panel discussions on digital navigation and unmanned vessels, as well as a pitch session on the marine robotics.

During the conference, Alexey Donskoy, Director of Engineering Center of Shipbuilding (ECS) told about the successful creation of unmanned boats by SPE AME and the conversion of the developed technologies for the civil shipbuilding. ECS in cooperation with AME plans to start in 2018 and 2019 a number of pilot projects to test autonomous and remote control vessels: sea/river bulk cargo ship, a small-tonnage tanker,  a ferry and an icebreaker.

Aleksey Rakhmanov, head of United Shipbuilding Corporation told about the beginning in 2018 of the construction of an innovative unmanned vessel at Sredne Nevsky Shipyard (part of USC).

According to Aleksey Rakhmanov, construction of unmanned ships is only possible after solutions are found to principal issues of international cooperation. He believes it is important to define common principles of onshore infrastructure development, work with prototypes and models.

Vitaly Klyuev, representative of Federal Marine and River Transport Agency (Rosmorrechflot), told in his turn about intense development of regulatory frameworks for unmanned shipping being carried out in Russia. The expert expects the regulations as early as in the beginning of 2019. So, Russia is to be the first or among the first countries to create legal platform for autonomous and remotely operated vessels.

“As of today, there is an international definition of an unmanned ship and its categories, current regulations are based on presence of people onboard” said Vitaly Klyuev.

The discussion participants came to a conclusion that among the key factors ensuring fast development of unmanned shipping are regulatory framework and infrastructure with a significant role to be played by state authorities and international regulators.