Toward energy saving and environmental protection by implementation of autonomous ship

The energy saving and environmental protection remain the main pillars of the maritime industry's sustainability enhancement. This sustainability will become a reality by implementation of autonomous ship (AS), which is considered as an alternative and may carry the potential to increase the profitability of shipping company. The elimination of crew, the introduction of innovative technology and adoption of new ship design on board of this kind of ship will participate positively in energy saving and environmental protection. For an in-situ study, a hundred of conventional ships (CS) have been visited, their energy consumption and environmental impact are assessed taking into consideration the trading area, navigation scenarios, power capacity and number of crew members. In this paper, we assess and quantify the positive impact on energy saving and environmental pollution prevention resulting from the implementation of AS. For this the facilities related to crew living are enumerated and the impact of their elimination on energy saving and environmental pollution prevention is presented. Other ship design concepts are proposed to enhance the energy-saving and environmental protection are proposed. A benchmarking of CS and AS in term of energy saving and environmental pollution prevention is presented.