Norway Sets Up Second Test Area for Unmanned Ships
Illustration; Image Courtesy: Rolls-RoyceNorway has taken a further step in the field of autonomous vessels as it reached an agreement to establish a test area for such ships in the Sunnmøre region, according to the Norwegian Maritime Authority.
Under the deal signed between the country’s maritime authority, coastal administration and a consortium led by GCE Blue Maritime, Storfjord would become the second area in Norway approved for autonomous ship tests.
The a 110-kilometre long fjord was selected as fourteen of Norway’s shipyards and twenty shipping companies are situated in its vicinity, and because it is already being used as a test area for newly built and converted ships.
The first such area was approved in late September 2016, when Norway designated the Trondheim fjord for tests on unmanned ships. The previous initiative was undertaken by NTNU, Kongsberg Seatex, Kongsberg Maritime, MARINTEK and Maritime Robotics in cooperation with Trondheim Harbour and the Norwegian Maritime Authority.
The country aims to facilitate the testing of new concepts and full scale programs related to autonomous vessels in Storfjord in Sunnmøre and adjacent fjords in the northernmost part of Western Norway, the Møre og Romsdal county.
World Maritime News Staff
