From concept to reality: Unmanned merchant ship research in Norway

Fully unmanned ships provide a very interesting opportunity to create new types of waterborne transport systems. No crew means that many ship systems can be removed and the ship can be designed differently. It will also in many cases enable the use of smaller ships, e.g. due to crew cost not being a factor in operational costs. Within a relatively short timeframe, coastal and inland waterway shipping can turn out to be a serious competitor to medium and long distance truck transport. This paper reports on the main conclusions from the MUNIN concept study on unmanned merchant ships, including important criteria for creating a viable transport system with unmanned ships. We also report on the current research activities in Norway and how we believe the road map towards the first fully unmanned ship may look like.