SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP
SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP TECHNOLOGY The Wind Challenger: already in service on the bulk carrier »Shofu Maru« of other large vessels in the future. Development and design for this purpose are currently underway. The paper provided a general introduction to the Wind Challenger project, its technical background, the performance measurements and evaluations of the »Shofu Maru« during seagoing voyages, including lessons learned and future plans. Volkmar Wasmannsdorff from Bremen-based Movena and Roland Lindinger from LR Shipdesign talked about the »Aft Opt« technology in their presentation »The Design of the Ships’ Hulls based on Application of Aircraft Wing and Fuselage Engineering Principles«. The paper presented the application of new findings in fluid mechanic sciences with the aim of significantly reducing the overall ships’ resistance and to improve its propulsion. »Aft Opt« technology applied to ship hulls originates from the transfer and application of principles used in the design of aircrafts. The application of these to hydrodynamic and hydromechanic principles, using proprietary CFD software, leads to a new design approach for the aft hull of ships. According to the experts, hull shape and lower hull flow lead to a much better filled propeller disk, wake flow and better rudder characteristics. As a result, the required main engine power may be reduced by more than 6 %. The authors believe that ships will only be competitive in the future if all the latest requirements of builders and users are combined. Ship owners should not be shy to use their purchasing power to combine more economical shipbuilding know-how with their own ship operational experience and requirements. Aft Opt is said to help the ship owner and the party paying for the fuel to stay ahead of other market participants. The savings have been confirmed by renowned ship model basins and classification society DNV. Lennart Cederberg and Eleonor Mamefelt from Swedish Noor Care together with Ingegerd Snöberg from Linnaeus University prepared a paper on »AI + Human Factor = Fuel Saving«. Cederberg is a marine meteorologist and sophisticated consultant and adviser for optimum routing, making use of AI and today’s optimum weather predictions. He is a pragmatist and pleasant to read. His paper summarises three years of technical development and research in close collaboration with several major shipping companies. Besides the technical AI-based decision support systems, the project has focused on the human element, how the support systems become efficient help for real, both ashore and onboard. © MOL / Payer The importance to create knowledge and understanding among technical-, commercial- and operation-departments within the organisations on how to implement new methods became clear. The »Arctic Tern« in the end showed fuel savings of 2 % up to 14 %. AI-based route optimisation systems with ANN (Artificial Neural Networks) and supervised machine learning for ships with robust and high-frequency sensor data are a prerequisite for more detailed optimisation of speed and engine set points. These modern and much more accurate tools are very important for faster and easier decision making on speed and engine settings for a particular ship on a particular route with a unique cargo condition, and for the ability to operate ships in a more energyefficient and climate-friendly manner on a large scale. In her highly interesting paper »Reimagining Proactive Cleaning: Benefits of High-Frequency Cleaning by Means of an Autonomous In-Transit Hull Grooming Robot«, Stav Jacob from Nail AI Robotics, Nir Am, Israel, pointed out the advantages of high frequency cleaning of biofouling. The development of a robot that can achieve this is described. High frequency in this context is defined as once every ten days on average, when an autonomous robot is deployed to clean the slime layer off the ship’s hull, setting a new standard for what is considered proactive cleaning. High-frequency hull cleaning offers significant benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and a significant reduction in the migration of invasive species. Both have a significant impact on the environment and offer savings to the ship operator. The main operational benefits are fuel savings due to the continuous maintenance of a clean hull and improved AF coating life due to gentle cleaning. On the environmental side, the benefits are reduced greenhouse gas emissions due to reduced fuel consumption, and the prevention of invasive species migration due to preventative cleaning before biofouling reaches a harmful state. These points have been proven by research, but few companies are trying to put them into practice. This is likely to change with legislation that may require proactive cleaning. The paper also describes NakAI’s Proactive Hull Grooming Device, a first of its kind, fully autonomous, in-transit cleaning robot. NakAI’s robot has special hydrodynamic features that allow it to remain attached to the ship while it sails, and incorporates a unique version of SLAM to navigate autonomously. The robot remains on the ship in a docking station, allowing it to clean anywhere along the route as long as sea conditions allow. NakAI aims to lead the industry’s shift to high-frequency hull cleaning to reduce the shipping sector’s footprint and preserve the world’s oceans. The final paper of the conference was presented by Tracy Plowman and Volker Bertram from DNV Maritime in Hamburg: »AI Tools for Maritime Applications – Success and Failure«. Today, AI-based tools are being advocated or successfully used for various functions in the maritime world. In 2023, Bertram, together with Henrique Gaspar, tested various AI-based tools for maritime applications and came to the conclusion that the tools gave rather disappointing results. Since then, experience with AIbased tools supporting various tasks in ship design and other maritime operations has led to a much more differentiated view. The conclusion and advice for using AI today may be summarised as follows: AI is helpful but has no creativity. A saying in German goes: »Es gibt nichts Gutes, außer man tut es« – loosely translated as »There will be nothing outstanding, if you do not do it.« Be aware of limitations, but embrace the possibilities of evolving AI technologies – also for maritime applications. 52 HANSA – International Maritime Journal 07 | 2024
HANSA – International Maritime Journal 07 | 2024 53
