Assisted Docking System: The Future of Maritime Safety
Volvo Penta’s Assisted Docking System is a real game-changer for the industry
When it comes to transportation innovation, the focus has usually been on developing smart cars and autonomous vehicles – essentially, how to make ground transportation more sustainable, cost-effective, and safe. Innovation within the maritime industry, especially for the consumer, has received less fanfare.
However, Volvo Penta’s revolutionary technology aims to change that by providing ship captains with a whole new level of control. Furthermore, the implications far-reaching of this new technology could reach beyond the consumer sector, delivering innovative change to the shipping sector as well.
Assisted Docking System
Even for the most experienced captains, docking can be a stressful process, especially in foul weather with strong winds and rough currents. Additionally, boasts require skillful maneuvering for any movement – and to remain still.
Volvo Penta’s Assisted Docking System combines the company’s proprietary GPS-based Dynamic Positioning System and Inboard Performance Systems (IPS) with a new software to assist captains with docking, even in rough conditions.
The system uses a joystick that controls the boat’s steering input and a GPS antenna to determine the boat’s exact position and heading. It also factors in the external forces that could impact the docking process, such as wind speed and current. Once the captain sets the correct direction and speed for docking, the system keeps the boat on course by adjusting the boat’s thrust and angles.
The new system will allow boats to move in straight lines without manually adjusting the direction and speed of the boat, as well as stand still, rotate around a fixed point, slowly maneuver across a narrow point, re-position and re-align after a mild deviation from their course, and dock sideways.
Better maritime safety
Assisted Docking is designed as a hybrid between manual docking and automated docking. Even though the system is capable of becoming fully automated, the objective, right now, is to provide captains with better control over their boats.
Volvo Penta’s ADS is designed in pursuance of the company’s philosophy of making boating simpler, more accessible, and enjoyable for more people. Taking a cue from smart cars, the ADS is designed to make boats ‘smarter’ by automating some of the tedious actions and critical thinking tasks performed by the captain.
With the help of automation, sea travel will become safer and more affordable. A large-scale implementation of the docking system technology will boost trade and economic cooperation between countries by providing a safe and easy method of shipping.
The future of the maritime industry
During the past half-decade, the UAE (Dubai, in particular) has been investing heavily in its maritime industry. In 2017, the region was named as the fifth-most competitive maritime cluster on a global level. During the same year, the maritime industry accounted for 7 percent of the economy’s GDP.
Another important development worth noting is Dubai’s Maritime Vision 2030, which is a long-term blueprint for the industry. Launched in 2014, the aim of this strategy is to establish Dubai as the centre for all maritime activity in the region and boost the city’s logistical capabilities. The driving factors behind this change will be an increase in the use of cutting-edge technology throughout the sector.
The UAE Government’s massive investment in the maritime sector suggests an increase in more private-public collaborations to increase maritime safety and design better ships that include automated systems, reducing accidents that take an economic, and human, toll.
This push for change gives Volvo Penta’s ADS a strategic advantage in the long run that can go beyond consumer applications. After successfully deploying the ADS across boats, it makes sense to developer and distribute similar software for cargo ships, seabound freight carriers, and other types of commercial vessels. The result will be better, faster, and safer shipping, possibly with reduced crew requirements as well.
All in all, the future of the shipping, leisure boating, and the maritime industry as a whole looks ready to embrace innovation. Investing in smart technology today will pave the way for a safer, highly profitable, more efficient, and a more sustainable sector in the future.