Rolls-Royce collaborates with Singapore and Finland on smart ship technology

Rolls-Royce have formed a strategic partnership to develop smart ship technologies with marine experts in Singapore and Finland.

The company’s agreement with the Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine in Singapore focuses on the Internet of Things and smart sensing.

The move will enable marine data to be “more closely integrated into global supply chains, generating cost savings and improving revenue generation”, said Kevin Daffey, director of engineering and technology at Rolls-Royce.

The company will hold a number of technology demonstrations at the centre’s ocean environment simulator – the Deepwater Ocean Basin – to show how the systems can be used for specific ship types.

Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce's partnership with Tampere University of Technology in Finland is about developing and testing autonomous navigation systems.

The university is providing its autonomous ship simulator to eventually build “a remote controlled ship that will be in commercial use by the end of the decade and a common sight on the high seas by 2030”, said Karno Tenovuo, senior vice-president for ship intelligence at Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce is also teaming up with MacGregor – part of Cargotec, a Finnish provider of cargo handling machinery – to make cargo operations safer and more efficient on container ships. MacGregor wants to develop systems that minimise “unnecessary waste in the forms of inefficiency, damage to cargo, and continuously dangerous working conditions”, said Pasi Lehtonen, senior vice-president of strategy at MacGregor.

These announcements come on the heels of Rolls-Royce’s collaboration with Swedish ferry company Stena, to develop intelligence awareness for ships and strengthen the company’s marine division.

Rolls-Royce also has strategic partnerships with the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, as well as some SMEs and start-ups.