Tag Archives: technology

Premiere of the world’s first self-driving ferry

Posted on May 7, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Stockholm will launch the world’s first self-driving passenger ferry, powered entirely by electricity. The ferry will run between the Stockholm islands of Kungsholmen and Sodermalm, starting in June, 2023.

It is owned by Torghatten AS, one of Norway’s important companies in the transportation industry. Torghattan’s annual revenue is approximately NOK 3.7 billion and it has approximately 1250 employees. Its core business is seaborne transportation in Norway (Torghattan website), with over 90 passenger and ferry vessels. Torghattan is owned by the Swedish private equity company EQT.

Ideas for the ferry started at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. The goal was to create more sustainable urban mobility. The company Zeabuz was spun off from the autonomous vessel research community at NTNU, who built the first autonomous ferry prototypes, specifically to develop the autonomy system for these ferries.

Stockholm has many islands. Kungsholmen is central to the city, and is where the city hall (Stockholms stadshus) is located. Sodermalm is a neighboring island, just to the south. The distance traversed is not large, but an autonomous ferry will make it convenient to travel between the islands. There are bridges, but the ferry provides a walkable alternative.

A picture of the ferry is below.

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Load boards are broken — fixing them is critical

Posted on March 24, 2023 by | Leave a comment

This article discusses the many ways in which truck freight is arranged in the US. The author makes the case that load boards are no longer that useful to truckers, and this is quite possibly due to the natural growth in the chase for users, and the users themselves gaming the system. It’s to be expected in our technical world.

Private freight marketplaces are attempts to fix the issues. They have their drawbacks. Another approach is a ‘centralized, reaggregated capacity marketplace’ optimized for integrity and carrier quality.

That’s what Newtrul founded in 2018, is offering. It appears they are offering their service to brokers rather than carriers. They address the carrier quality issue by only signing up carriers that have seven customers they’ve passed compliance checks with.

It’s not clear how Newtrul is doing the aggregation of capacity. Doubtless it is driven by an optimization or AI routine of some sort.

Yet another cooperative scheme is being tried by Leaf Logistics, which I wrote about earlier.

I think these approaches are interesting and useful. They induce some cooperation into a process that was distinctively siloed and labor-intensive previously. Markets will determine who will do cooperation the best.

John Paul Hampstead·Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Load boards are broken — fixing them is critical – FreightWaves

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Up to €1.5m per year: understanding the implications of EU ETS

Posted on March 12, 2023 by | Leave a comment

The European Union (EU) has proposed an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) including maritime emissions. The hope is to reduce maritime pollution from greenhouse gas emissions by forcing emitters to buy emission certificates. The current cost of the certificates is about 90 Euros; futures can be tracked here. The first monitoring year will be 2024, and will cover:

  • all emissions from vessels above 5000 GT calling at EU ports for voyages within the EU
  • 50% of emissions from voyages that start or end outside the EU
  • all emissions when berthed at an EU location.

The rules will apply to smaller vessels in the following years. The basis for the requirement will be an EU Monitor, Report and Verify (MRV) analysis.

The emissions certificates are going to make ocean shipping more expensive. That’s exactly what is intended. The idea is to internalize the cost of pollution rather than have it be a factor exogenous (in economic terms) to the negotiated rates for shipping. Essentially shippers and carriers will no longer be able to ignore their emissions; they will need to pay enough to cover the cost of the certificates, or use clean ships.

Some carriers have already announced plans to pass the charges through to the shippers. Whatever happens, the emissions cost, measured by the certificate value, will be added to the cost of the product. This should influence shipping markets to reduce emissions. It’s an important stem, and one virtually all economists support.

One can argue whether the price is fair, or enough to completely cover the cost. And one can argue that passing through the cost to shippers stokes inflation. And there’s a question whether a charterer or owner should pay for the certificate, since the charterer has control of the factors on voyages that generate the emissions. But these are smaller points compared to getting action on reducing emissions. And now competition will be extended to reduce emissions for voyages, since ships that don’t pollute will be favored with lower costs.

The Managing Director of software company zero44 interviewed here, Frederike Hesse, says that the cost could well be substantial in the next few years. So shipowners had better prepare. Her company seems to be supplying software for charter planning. Emissions will play a definite role in charter planning and pricing for ships visiting the EU.

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Friederike Hesse | Mar 02, 2023

Up to €1.5m per year: understanding the implications of EU ETS

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