CMA CGM, class society Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore and Chinese ship designer Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI) have launched a joint study of an AI-assisted containership that would keep crews in operational control, according to Bureau Veritas.
The partners signed the joint development agreement at the SMM maritime exhibition in Hamburg on 3 September.
The project will examine how digitalisation, artificial intelligence and onboard decision-support systems can improve energy efficiency and operational performance, strengthen safety for ships, crews and cargo, and reduce crew workload while retaining human oversight.
CMA CGM will provide operational requirements, use cases and the shipowner perspective. SDARI will contribute merchant ship design, systems engineering and smart-ship expertise, while Bureau Veritas will cover classification, safety, risk assessment and regulatory issues.
The first phase will identify priority onboard functions and appropriate levels of assistance. A selected concept will then be assessed for technical, safety, regulatory and commercial viability.
The partners will subsequently develop a Concept of Operations and Basis of Design covering crew roles, assisted functions and shore-based support.
Human factors and safety will be assessed through a risk-based approach aligned with Bureau Veritas rules.
The final stage will include technical specifications and an application for Approval in Principle, together with high-level CAPEX and OPEX estimates and a development roadmap.
Marseille-based CMA CGM operates more than 700 vessels, serves 420 of the world’s 521 commercial ports and runs more than 250 shipping lines.
Bureau Veritas, founded in 1828, is a testing, inspection and certification group with a marine and offshore classification business.
SDARI, founded in 1964, is a Shanghai-based ship design institute within China State Shipbuilding Corporation. It has more than 600 employees working across ship design, green and energy-saving technology, smart-ship products and lifecycle support.