Research: Operational Concept for Autonomous Dredging Vessel Unveiled

o ensure the minimum depth required for safe maritime navigation, many ports along the North Sea coast must regularly clear accumulated silt from their shipping channels. This labor-intensive and costly task could, in the coming years, be handled by an autonomously operating dredging vessel. This is one of the key findings from the AMISIA research project (Advanced Port Maintenance: Intelligent, Sustainable, Innovative, and Automated Dredging).

While not without controversy from an environmental perspective, economically speaking, there is often no alternative to deepening or at least regularly clearing shipping channels of silt deposits to keep them navigable. The question of whether this process can be made more eco-friendly and efficient using an autonomous dredging vessel was explored by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in collaboration with Niedersachsen Ports and the engineering firm Mareval. Practical test campaigns were conducted at the port of Emden, utilizing DLR’s research vessel "Sally" to trial different levels of automation: crew-based navigation, remote control from shore, and fully autonomous operation. The insights gained from these trials contributed to the design of a novel dredging vessel, which not only operates on electric power but is also entirely crewless. Embedded within a comprehensive operational concept, this vessel aims to make this aspect of harbor maintenance more sustainable in the future.


> This article was created in collaboration with Drones, the magazine for the drone economy. www.drones-magazin.de