Last Friday (March 8), Hyundai Mipo Dockyard held a naming ceremony for Korea’s first autonomous navigation demonstration containership built for the Korean shipping company Pan Ocean (Pan Ocean Shipping Co., Ltd.).
Named ‘POS SINGAPORE’, the 1,800 TEU containership is expected to be completed and delivered to Pan Ocean later this month, during the naming ceremony, another newbuild containership, ‘POS LAEMCHABANG’, was also named and delivered directly to Pan Ocean, with the same specifications as the POS SINGAPORE but not an autonomous demonstration containership.
Pan Ocean placed an order in April 2022 with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for the above two 1,800 TEU containerships. This series of containerships have an overall length of 172 meters, a breadth of 27.4 meters, a height of 14.3 meters and a deadweight of 22,200 tons.
The new containerships feature various environmental protection devices such as a sulfur oxide reduction system (scrubber) and a ballast water treatment system. They are also equipped with an advanced autonomous navigation system that guides optimal navigation and sailing speed, and supports safe navigation by detecting unexpected situations.
“POS SINGAPORE” is Korea’s first autonomous navigation demonstration vessel, which is used to validate various core technologies for autonomous navigation being developed in Korea, such as intelligent navigation systems and engine automation systems. It is expected to begin its first demonstration voyage in September 2024 on an international route.
The comprehensive development project for autonomous ship technology, which was launched by Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) in 2020, plans to carry out various tests on the POS SINGAPORE to fulfill the third stage of autonomous navigation, which allows the vessel to be operated by remote control without a crew on board. The government of South Korea has invested $120 million in research and development of technology for autonomous navigation vessels.
It is understood that Pan Ocean and Hyundai-Miura Shipbuilding have completed the preparatory work for the installation of the autonomous navigation system since the design stage of “POS SINGAPORE”, and are now about to install it on the containership. The system integrates autonomous navigation, digital-based institutional monitoring, communication and safety technologies.
Over the past few years, the Korean industry has been working on testing various autonomous systems.2022 HD Hyundai Group (formerly Hyundai Heavy Industries Group) conducted the world’s first first transoceanic voyage of a large merchant vessel using autonomous navigation technology. The system was applied to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that traveled more than 11,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean.