Kongsberg Maritime, has announced its latest achievement as the recipient of the Autonomous Shipping Award at the SMART4SEA EUROPORT Awards. This recognition highlights Kongsberg Maritime’s continued commitment to innovation and driving advancements in autonomous shipping solutions.

After their successful partnership in 2019, SAFETY4SEA and Europort have once again collaborated to celebrate the outstanding contributions to the maritime industry. With a panel of industry experts and key stakeholders, the awards showcase the most exceptional technologies, practices, and organizations that shape the future of the maritime sector.

Kongsberg Maritime’s win in the Autonomous Shipping category reflects its pioneering efforts in creating cutting-edge autonomous shipping solutions that have revolutionized the industry.

“We have become a world leader in the development of autonomous vessels, through our role as a partner and technology leader in a range of autonomy pioneer projects,” said Pål Andrè Eriksen, Senior Vice President at Kongsberg Maritime. “Our technology has been successfully demonstrated in a range of scenarios, across numerous vessel types including tugboats, coastal cargo, electrically powered barges and ferries. We have been able to demonstrate just how these exciting technologies can safely operate in real world conditions, at sea, and not just in computer simulations.”

Earlier this year, Kongsberg Maritime were a lead partner in the EU’s AUTOSHIP project involving two ground-breaking demonstrations. A Norwegian fish feeding ship, conducted a 160-mile voyage to an offshore salmon farm, using remote and autonomous control. This was followed by a trial of a river barge navigating the complex canal network in Antwerp, in busy waterways. These trials provided an opportunity to test Kongsberg Maritime’s technology in real-life situations, where numerous manoeuvres were performed successfully and safely.

“Full autonomy in commercial operation is developing with our pioneering customers, with the continued learning and experience, these new technologies will make shipping safer, more efficient and create new and exciting possibilities for maritime operations,” concluded Pål Andrè.