German group mulls ‘pilotless’ vessels to fix skipper shortage
A ship navigator for Belgian startup Seafar handling remotecontrolled navigation on rivers in Germany.
With the flow of new recruits into the seafaring sector drying up, a German company is exploring a potentially revolutionary measure — sending ships off without a captain on board.
HGK Shipping, based in the German port of Duisburg, is testing remote navigation from a control centre on land. ‘Driverless’ vessels are “the only solution to survive as an industry”, HGK chief Steffen Bauer said.
The average captain’s age on HGK’s 350 vessels is around 55, said Mr. Bauer, whose company claims to be the leading river cargo operator in Europe. “If we do nothing, we’ll lose 30% of our sailors by 2030,” he said.
In search of a solution, HGK has signed a partnership agreement with the Belgian startup Seafar, a leader in the emerging field of autonomous navigation. Founded in 2019, Seafar already operates four pilotless vessels in Belgium and has just opened an office in Germany, which represents 30% of Europe’s inland shipping. “There is a market for remotecontrolled ships,” said Janis Bargsten, Seafar’s commercial director, adding that establishing a regulatory framework would take less time than perfecting the technology.
In Duisburg, Seafar and HGK have already created a centre for autonomous navigation and are awaiting the approval of the German authorities to launch their first vessels.
In the initial test phase, two captains will remain on board the remotely guided ships.
The longerterm aim is to eliminate the captain’s role completely while still keeping some crew on board, Mr. Bauer said.