Shipping Technology Launches ST Sailing Pro, Introducing Automatic Propulsion Control

Shipping Technology has launched ST Sailing Pro, an extension of its ST Sailing track pilot that now not only controls a vessel's steering, but also its propulsion. This is the next step in the company's roadmap towards autonomous sailing. 

In short, the captain enters a destination and a desired arrival time, after which the system continuously calculates the course and engine power needed to meet it, taking changes in locks, currents, water levels etc. into account. On a normal sailing pattern, ST Sailing Pro reduces fuel consumption by a further 10 per cent on top of the 5 per cent already validated for ST Sailing. The system operates at level 2 of the CCR automation scale, with the captain supervising at all times.

Shipping Technology started collecting vessel data in 2018, with the ST Brain PRO onboard unit and added automatic rudder control five years ago, and now running on 400+ vessels. ST Sailing runs on some 200 vessels and has logged more than 315,000 sailing hours and 4.4 million kilometers. That data set has significantly speeded up developing the next step: active propulsion control.

Trials last year used a thruster-driven river cruise vessel and covered automated maneuvering. Testing then moved to conventionally equipped commercial vessels—main engines, reverse-reduction gearboxes, a propeller shaft and a rudder—which make up the largest part of the inland fleet. After six months on a single vessel under a Smart Shipping permit, trials now run across several vessels in the dry cargo, tanker and passenger shipping markets.

Rijkswaterstaat (part of the Dutch ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) validated the 5% fuel saving for ST Sailing in certified field testing. Interestingly, the additional 10% from propulsion control is largely determined early in a voyage, in the speed chosen shortly after departure.