South Korean autonomous container ship departs for Shanghai

BUSAN : The South Korean government has held a sail-away ceremony for the POS Singapore at Busan Port and will begin testing the autonomous sailing systems onboard. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have been jointly developing a Korean-style autonomous ship system, a 20-25 year project costing KRW 160.3 billion.

The ship is currently underway bound for Shanghai. POS Singapore will operate on the Korea-Southeast Asia route for the next year and will conduct integrated demonstrations of core technologies such as intelligent navigation, engine automation, cybersecurity, and operational technology in situations where safety is secured due to weather and maritime traffic conditions.

Based on the demonstration results, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to proactively lead the discussion of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the international standard for autonomous ships (MASS code) as a team of industry, academia, research and government.

The 1800 TEU demonstration ship is provided by bulk shipping company Pan Ocean, a shipping company that signed a business agreement with the ‘Autonomous Ship Technology Development Project Team’. It is 172 metres in length and is registered in Liberia. The ship was floated in March and delivered in April. Since then, it has been undergoing the outfitting and testing of the automation system.