Towards unmanned cargo ships

A task based design process to identify economically viable low and unmanned ship concepts

Doctoral thesis (2021)

Authors

C. Kooij Ship Design, Production and Operations - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Research Group
Ship Design, Production and Operations (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2021 C. Kooij
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:7f26d675-4e27-4ddb-bc84-1daa0f3d2eb2
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Published Date

2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Marine and Transport Technology

Research Group

Ship Design, Production and Operations

Abstract

Unmanned and low-manned transport has increasingly been studied this past decade. While there have been successful trials for autonomous navigation, unmanned cargo ships are not commercially available yet. First, this dissertation investigates how changes to a ship’s systems and organizational structure can affect the crew’s size and composition. Then, a cost benefit analysis determines the economic viability of these concepts. This research concludes with feasible intermediate steps between a conventional ship and a fully unmanned ship.