Summary of “Ships without skippers” By SINTEF

Summary of “Ships without skippers” By SINTEF

According to Sinteff, a cargo ship moves slowly with no one on boarded. Is this a scene from an apocalyptic movie or just a bold project that the EU project MUNIN is working to achieve? Researchers at MARINTEK think that in ten to 20 years 200 unmanned ships will be in the ocean. Scientist at Sintef company MARINTEK are working 24 hour shifts and believe that a three to four Mbit broad band connection is strong enough and effective enough to steer a 200m ship through dense, scary seas. As time goes on, fewer people want to be captains of cargo ships; this is how the project came about. Robotic ships can cut coast on oil, CO2 and could lower other emission that ships cause. Sintef has companies around the world working countless hours to make navigation tools that make the ship much safer. To make sure that this ship is safe Sintef is going the extra mile, one they are going to install a water jet (that is powerful enough to move the ship) incase the main steering goes out. In addition, Sintef will send one to two people to steer the cargo ship to safety in crowed ports.

I personally think that Sintef should not continue with this project for many reasons. One, many things could go wrong. For example, the three to four Mbit broad band connection could go off line leaving a 200 meter ship by its self. Anther possible reason is that in a bad storm the ship may need a captain for safety reasons. Lastly, while Sintef has made many jobs going on with this project, in the future not many jobs will be available to people who are looking for a captain job.

SINTEF. (2014, September 8). Ships without skippers. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 12, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140908083529.htm