Wired UK - 11.2019

(Darren Dugan) #1
046

From self-driving ships to containers that can converse
with cranes and unmanned patrol vessels, Rotterdam has
plans to be the continent’s most advanced shipping hub

Automating the

W EU’s biggest port

riting in black-marker is scrawled over
the glass walls of the office of startup
Captain AI. “Close your eyes, that’s
intellectual property,” says Gerard
Kruisheer, a co-founder of the Dutch
company. Its HQ is tucked away inside
RDM, a sprawling, high-ceilinged hall
with steel beams, cutting across the
former wharf in what was once the
world’s busiest port. Now, it’s a hub
for innovation in Rotterdam – the port
that wants to be the world’s “smartest”.
Those scribbles are strings of the
code Captain AI wants to use to create
autonomous ships. It is currently training
self-sailing software with navigation
data, testing various scenarios in a
sea simulator. “It’s the extreme cases
you want to test. You want your ship
to be able to sail autonomously in all
conditions,” says Captain AI CEO
Vincent Wegener. “We create conditions
like snow and rain within our simulator,
and use it to train the algorithm.”
Wegener says autonomous ships
will be much safer, citing an Allianz
report that found that 75 per cent of
maritime accidents are attributable
to human error. And they will reduce
port congestion by eliminating lengthy
processes that require humans, such
as pilots. “That’s the official version.
The unofficial reason we started doing
this is because we thought it would be
cool, of course,” he adds.
The port of Rotterdam – 42km wide,
from the far city edge to the North Sea


  • is Europe’s biggest. It handles about
    470 million tonnes of freight each year,
    contributing €45.6bn (£40.9bn) to the
    Dutch economy (or 6.2 per cent of GDP),
    according to a recent study.
    Maintaining that edge requires
    foresight. Former port operator ECT
    opened the world’s first automated
    container terminal as early as 1993.
    Today, APM Terminals and RWG run
    some of the world’s most advanced port
    services. Gigantic, unmanned cranes
    lift containers off vessels, the bulk of
    their manoeuvres automated, the rest
    remote-controlled. AGVs – electrical
    automated guided vehicles – resem-


11-19-STRotterdam.indd 26 23/08/2019 14:14

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