Smart ship project under participation of Chinese institutes and shipbuilding companies

The vessel will be based on the Green Dolphin, a 38,800-dwt bulk carrier. The entire ship will be run on smart systems, optimising performance while maintaining safe operations. The smart ship project is the first civilian programme from CSSC Innovation and is planned and led by the Shanghai Ship Design and Research Institute with participation from the CSSC Systems Engineering Research Institute, CSSC Huangpu-Wenchong Shipbuilding, CSSC Power Research Institute and Hudong Heavy Machinery. CSSC said the ship will be designed with the highest possible technical specifications, smart management and control systems. The preliminary specifications have been completed. Several modules have been completed in trial assembly and tested on other ships. The commercial plans for building a smart demo ship have been confirmed. The companies involved plan to start construction September 2016 and deliver the vessel in 2017. The smart ship applies the latest information technology including real-time data transmission and collection, large-capacity calculations, digital modelling and remote control. The integration of these technologies is aimed to guarantee navigational safety and improve operational efficiency of the ship. The project will also use intelligent management and control systems, independent analysis, assessment and predictions. This will help with communication between the smart ship and shore as well as providing remote maintenance and upgrades of ship systems.