Wired UK - 11.2019

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-

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