Rolls-Royce and Finnish shipowner Finferries have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop strategies and solutions to optimise the safety and efficiency of marine operations through developing the technology for decision supporting systems and to demonstrate remote and autonomous ferry operations, the company said in its press release.
A key focus of the collaboration will be to consider a new research project, called SVAN (Safer Vessel with Autonomous Navigation), whereby Rolls-Royce and Finferries will look to implement the findings from the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications (AAWA) research project, which formally ended in late 2017.
Funded by Business Finland, AAWA brought together a number of stakeholders from a myriad of shipping industry sectors to research the commercial and technical viability of a next generation of advanced ship solutions. Both Rolls-Royce and Finferries were involved in the project.
Karno Tenovuo, Senior Vice President, Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence, said: “We are extremely pleased that that the collaboration we had with Finferries in the AAWA project is to continue. This new collaboration agreement could take safer, cleaner shipping to the next level. Rolls-Royce will develop solutions to enhance the safety and efficiency of marine operations in the ferry sector, which will be demonstrated in the test platform provided by Finferries.”
Mats Rosin, Finferries’ CEO, added: “We are excited to further deepen our collaboration with Rolls-Royce. Finferries wants to actively take part in ventures where cutting-edge technology is utilised to increase the safety in maritime operations. We believe this cooperation will benefit both our customers and the environment as the focus is on increasing reliability of marine traffic.”
The cooperation agreement was announced today at the Turku Fair and Congress Center, during the NaviGate 2018 exposition.