HD Hyundai Signs Research Contract for “Fuel Saving and GHG Reduction”

HD Hyundai subsidiary Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Avikus signed an agreement on March 14 to conduct a fuel economy verification project using autonomous navigation systems. Five companies are involved in the project, including Pan Ocean, POS SM, Korean Register of Shipping, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Avikus.

The project aims to verify the fuel-saving effect of autonomous navigation systems on real ships, making it a significant collaboration between domestic shipbuilders, autonomous navigation companies, shipping companies and classification societies. Although the concept of the optimal route already exists, there were difficulties in implementing it, as the speed and route had to be manually adjusted depending on the weather conditions. Therefore, the energy saving test was performed only through simulations led by shipbuilders or equipment manufacturers. However, this project will verify the automatic execution of optimal route and speed plans based on autonomous navigation systems and actual ship operational data, making the results more reliable. This verification is expected to be a significant development in the field of green and autonomous navigation.

The HiNAS2.0 autonomous navigation system developed by Avikus used in this verification is an AI-based system that guides the optimal navigation route by integrating information provided by various navigation devices and sensors and performs collision avoidance. The automatic control of optimal route and speed planning should lead to significant fuel savings.

In this project, Pan Ocean and POS SM will provide operational vessels and data and conduct feasibility assessments of the verification process. Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering will develop a fuel economy verification framework through data analysis, while Korean Register of Shipping will evaluate the developed fuel economy verification framework and conduct technical reviews for stable implementation and operation of HiNAS2.0.

Pan Ocean also develops and verifies environmentally friendly solutions, such as B. a rotor sail pilot operation with the Korean Register of Shipping and Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, while Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering is working on the development and verification of alternative fuel supply systems, such as hydrogen/carbon dioxide/ammonia. There is also interest and expectation of synergy effects through future cooperation.

In May 2022, Avikus successfully completed the world’s first transoceanic autonomous navigation for 33 days on an LNG carrier, confirming a 7 percent improvement in propulsion fuel efficiency and a 5 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from autonomously navigating the optimal route.

“This project is important to quantitatively verify the fuel and carbon reduction effects of autonomous navigation based on actual operational data,” said Lim Do-hyung, CEO of Avikus. “We will continue to develop technologies to improve fuel efficiency and respond to environmental regulations.”

“This joint collaboration will deliver significant research results that can validate the improvement of ship operational efficiency and the reduction of CO2 emissions through the use of autonomous navigation technology,” said Ahn Jung-ho, CEO of Pan Ocean. “It is expected to make a major contribution to achieving Pan Ocean’s declaration of carbon neutrality by 2050.”

The Korean Shipping Registry also signed a joint research agreement for the commercialization of Hyundai Heavy Industries, Liberia GIKUK, Avikus and Autonomous Navigation Systems in August 2022, and received conceptual approval in January 2023 after verifying safety and suitability through review of classification rules and national and international regulations for the HiNAS2.0 system.