Wärtsilä ANCS, part of technology group Wärtsilä, has delivered to Seaspan, a marine transportation and shipbuilding company, the cutting-edge autonomous SmartDock capabilities. The SmartDock system developed by Wärtsilä ANCS enables Seaspan to perform autonomous docking maneuvers, even in challenging conditions of currents up to 2 kt. With its advanced technology, SmartDock guarantees consistent, safe, and predictable docking and undocking maneuvers every time, reducing the need for intensive interaction from the vessel’s captain.

Notably, the SmartDock system employs an advanced UKF (Unscented Kalman Filter) estimator, combining sensor measurements from various sources, such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and Wärtsilä ANCS’s laser sensor Cyscan AS, to calculate precise position and rate estimates of the vessel’s motion. The data are then compared to a preprogrammed ideal trajectory of the vessel, and the advanced controller allocates thrust and steering commands, ensuring safe and consistent autonomous docking and undocking maneuvers.

Wärtsilä ANCS’s scope of work, which was signed in 2021, includes providing the autonomous SmartDock system, including track development for autodocking at Tilbury, Duke Point and Swartz Bay ports in Canada.

The commissioning of the Seaspan Trader cargo vessel has just been completed, with the Seaspan Transporter cargo vessel scheduled to be commissioned in late 2023/early 2024. These vessels, equipped with the SmartDock system, will operate in the waters of British Columbia, Canada.

Learn more here.