A new Danish maritime research and development partnership has been established under the name of ShippingLab, bringing together shipping companies including J. Lauritzen, Maersk Tankers, DFDS and Torm, as well as maritime suppliers, research institutes and universities. The goal of the project is to develop Denmark’s first autonomous, environmentally-friendly ship.
The group’s initial activities will include project workstreams covering ‘digital ship operation’ and ‘decarbonisation’.
The workstream on digital ship operation will focus on the development of intelligent systems, for instance by adopting machine-learning data analytics, while the workstream on decarbonisation will focus on areas such as the electrification of ship propulsion and the use of multiple power sources in a hybrid setup.
The partnership is financially supported by various Danish bodies, including the Danish Innovation Fund (Innovationsfonden), the Danish Maritime Fund and J. Lauritzen owner Lauritzen Fonden. The project is scheduled to run for three years.
“The ShippingLab innovation platform is a fantastic collaboration opportunity for J.Lauritzen and its industry peers to partner up with mutual interest and motivation to identify and apply new clever solutions and technology to a number of use cases,” said Claus Winther Graugaard, J. Lauritzen Senior Vice President, Head of Fleet Management, and a member of the steering committee of the partnership.
“ShippingLab is an enabler for players in The Blue Denmark to accelerate how we compete together against the rest of the world.”
