Will remote-controlled operations from dry land make profession more attractive

Belgian specialist in remote-controlled shipping SEAFAR, with its project partners HGK Shipping GmbH and Reederei Deymann Gruppe, has set up Germany’s first remote-controlled inland waterway shipping centre.

The centre enables captains to navigate vessels on inland waterways from dry land. This technology, according to Seafar, is one way of countering the shortage of specialist workers.

Five inland waterway vessels have been equipped with technology that allows them to be operated from a control centre on dry land in Germany.

A motor vessel, tug-barge system, dry cargo barge and two chemical tankers are the first to have the technology installed, but any vessels, including workboats, could benefit, the project operators say.

The partners are working with the public authorities to use the permits for the test operations already underway in the lower Rhine area and earmark other navigation areas for this approach. They are currently involved in the application phase for route sections on the northwest German canal network, the Mittelland Canal, and other sections of the Rhine.

These concepts, which involve fewer crew members, are already being successfully used for different types of inland waterway vessels in Belgium and the Netherlands and some of them will be controlled from the new Seafar centre in Duisburg-Ruhrort.

The remote operations centre in Duisburg currently offers three workplaces for skippers to remotely control vessels and one workplace for the traffic controller, who also monitors the vessels’ movements and is the senior contact person.

The skippers can remotely navigate the inland waterway vessels via a system resembling a wheelhouse with the help of a camera system as if they were operating on the water.

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