ビンゴ 5

July 11, 2019

Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
ビンゴ 5S.K. Lines, Ltd.
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen) Inc.

TOKYO-Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (MES-S; President: Tetsuro Koga; Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Junichiro Ikeda; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo), Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMST; President: Toshio Takeuchi; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo), Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen) Inc. (President: Taiji Maeda; Headquarters: Akishima-shi, Tokyo) today announced the completion of a demonstration ビンゴ 5 (from December 2018 to February 2019) using the TUMST training ship Shioji Maru for their proposed joint demonstration project related to the safety of vessels' auto berthing and un-berthing. The project was selected for Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT)'s FY2018 autonomous vessel demonstration project.

The project team completed a total of 54 auto berthing operations using a virtual pier set on the open water, and gained useful data for R&D on auto berthing systems. Before conducting the ビンゴ 5, the team formulated the ship operation plan, ビンゴ 5 guidelines, and criteria for canceling the operation ahead of time due to safety concerns, at the same time completing a thorough safety assessment under various phenomena by using the simulation environment.
The team plans a demonstration ビンゴ 5 with a large-size coastal ferry in FY2019 after substantially examining the development of ship operation control system and ビンゴ 5 methods to address the following issues:

• Realization of auto berthing control in consideration of vessel speed, course, and distance with sufficient safety margin, without making seafarers recognize risk.
• Realization of appropriate maneuvering control in consideration of the large-size ferry's maneuvering performance characteristics.
• Determination of definite criteria for making decisions of continue/stop on auto operation in consideration of events such as machinery and equipment failures that occur during auto operations and other phenomena such as sudden changes in surrounding environmental conditions.
• Determination of guidelines for the transition of ship operation from the system to the crew after the cancellation of the automatic operation considering safety and situation.

MES-S, MOL, TUMST, and Akishima Laboratory will contribute to the achievement of safe, reliable ocean transportation through activities including the auto berthing ビンゴ 5 demonstration project and other efforts to promote the development of autonomous vessels.