BY Li Jiajia from CNS
“I realized Shanghai had very good prospects for the development of international shipping centers when I was at the London headquarters of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping between 2003 and 2008”, said Zhang Binghua, Chairman of Marau Technology (Shanghai) Co., LTD, when explaining the reason why he chose Jinqiao of Shanghai’s Pudong New Area as start-up location.
Marau Technology is the first high-tech enterprise in China to focus on artificial intelligence visual perception and multi-sensor information fusion in the shipping and maritime fields. Its developed “Marau maritime smart eye” uses artificial intelligence technology to provide auxiliary driving and safety warning functions for ships, effectively solving the pain points of perception in the shipping and maritime fields and filling the gap left by traditional perception methods.
Marau maritime smart eye
Currently, intelligent navigation in water transportation has become the core focus of global shipping industry. The International Maritime Organization will launch non-mandatory guidelines for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) in 2025, and plans to launch mandatory guidelines in 2028, which will bring more imagination space for China’s shipping industry.
Compared to autonomous driving on vehicles, autonomous navigation on ships presents much greater challenges. The amount of data required for technical development is tens of thousands of times greater on ships than on vehicles, while the bandwidth at sea is only one thousandth that of land, the communication cost is hundreds of times that of land, and the perception technology required for autonomous navigation at sea needs to face high humidity, high salt environments, with the difficulty of technical protection being tens of times that of land, according to Zhang.
It is the high difficulty and great challenges that make intelligent ships, as a new emerging field of digital and intelligent technology, a typical representative of the new quality of productivity in the ship industry. This not only aligns with the industrial positioning of Pudong New Area as a pioneering district for socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics, but also breeds a market opportunity worth tens of billions of dollars.
There has been 1,100 shipping technology enterprises gathering in Pudong New Area, according to data from local shipping office.
In the field of intelligent ship manufacturing, it gathers leading enterprises such as Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., LTD and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding(Group) Co., LTD, as well as a number of top shipping scientific research institutions such as Shanghai Ship and Shipping Research Institute Co., LTD and Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute.
In the fields of shipping data and supply chain logistics, new high-tech enterprises such as YQN Logistics Co., LTD and Yitong International have grown rapidly in Pudong New Area, jointly empowering the development of Pudong's shipping industry with scientific and technological innovation.
“As early as 2015, China Classification Society first launched Rules for Intelligent Ships in the world, to promote the progress of ship intelligence by high-tech means to solve the safety and management problems of ship operation”, said Lu Jiaming, designer of Smart ship 1.0 architecture designer, former deputy director of Shanghai Ship and Shipping Research Institute and supervisor of Shanghai Institute of Navigation.
Shanghai’s Pudong New Area is actively optimizing the layout of the intelligent shipping industry, in order to improve the scientific and technological initiative and international discourse power, according to Lu.
Shanghai has accumulated technological achievements in the shipping industry for many years. In particular, the top design of several domestic intelligent ships is led by institutions located in Shanghai.
The industrial chain of Shanghai shipbuilding industry is also complete, and major shipowners such as China COSCO Shipping Corporation are also located here, which has the advantages of fleet size.
Shanghai’s Pudong New Area also has a strong talent and technology reserves, which has laid a solid foundation for Pudong to help Shanghai build an international shipping center.
“Pudong New Area is playing an increasingly important role in the international shipping circle, and now when we mention it, we will associate it with internationalization”, said Nicolas Bornozis, founder of the internationally renowned shipping finance consulting company Capital Link, at 2024 Shanghai Pudong International Shipping Finance Forum.
“Pudong New Area should make its due contribution in the field of intelligent shipping and autonomous navigation of ships, and we most hope that it can take the lead in making China’s voice and exporting China’s solutions on the world stage”, said Lu.
