03.09.2022 marked a milestone in the world of autonomy: The world's first fully electrical and autonomous RoRo vessel set sail towards a greener tomorrow. The vessels are owned by ASKO Maritime and operated by MASSTERLY. The vessels, which is the first of its kind, aim to move long-haul trailer transport from road to sea - offering an unprecedented greener and more efficient alternative.
Credits: ASKO Maritime AS
Autonomous vessels deserve autonomous planning and efficient port operations
Konciv`s contribution to this innovation is to bring automation to planning the port operations and vessel stowage, as well as managing the terminal operations.
"Traditionally, one would receive a load list by the carriers with trailers coming to the terminal, and from there manually calculate stowage and where to place the trailers on the terminals. We wanted to automate this to reduce the need for manual planning of the voyages and terminal operations", Says Henrik Heggland, CEO of Konciv.
...but efficiency is much more than automated planning. Konciv also calculates the most efficient loading sequence of the vessel and assigns the trailers' positions on both the terminal and on deck in a fashion that reduces loading and discharging time and travel time between vessel and quayside.
"With limited space on the terminals as well as the need for low turn around time of the vessels, time and cost-efficient loading and discharging become a priority. So not only do we have to consider the vessels' integrity when autonomously planning the voyages and the terminal operation, but we also need to consider route optimization for the terminal operations. In a sense, we aim to ensure that the trailers have as little footprint on the terminals as possible", Henrik continues.