SHIP AUTOMATION & AUTONOMOUS SHIPPING (1992-2023)

This area has two distinct components. First, a series of EU projects on ship automation, while at NTUA. Second, a sole EU project on autonomous shipping, while at DTU. By an odd twist of fate, most of the partners of the NTUA projects were Danish, but DTU was not among them. Here goes the description:

ΝΤUA

My top priority when I started at NTUA in 1989 was to get involved in funded EU projects. This was by no means easy, but my efforts finally paid off. Starting in 1992, my first EU project was ATOMOS (for Advanced Technologies to Optimize Manpower Onboard Ships), which was extended several times as follows:

 

·       “Advanced Technology to Optimize Manpower Onboard Ships- ATOMOS project” (February 1992- October 1994). Commission of European Communities, Directorate General for Transport - EURET Programme (multi-partner project, DSB Ferries Leader).

·       “Technological and Human Aspects of Maritime Efficiency and Safety - THAMES project” (October 1994- September 1995). Commission of European Communities, Directorate General for Transport - APAS Programme (multi-partner project, DSB Ferries Leader).

·        “Advanced Technologies to Optimize Maritime Operational Safety, Integration, and Interface, - ATOMOS II project” (January 1996- December 1998). Commission of European Communities, Directorate General for Transport -Transport Research Programme (multi-partner project, DSB Ferries Leader).

·       “Demonstrators for Integrated Ship Control- DISC project,” (October 1996- April 1997) Commission of European Communities, Directorate General for Transport -Transport Research Programme (multi-partner project, Scandlines Leader).

·       “Demonstrators for Integrated Ship Control- DISC II/ATOMOS III project,” (February 1998- December 1999) Commission of European Communities, Directorate General for Transport -Transport Research Programme (multi-partner project, Scandlines Leader).

·       “Advanced Technology to Optimize Maritime Operational Safety: Intelligent Vessel – ATOMOS IV project” (January 2000-December 2002). Commission of European Communities, Directorate General for Transport -Transport Research Programme (multi-partner project, Leader: Danish Maritime Institute).

Project THAMES was a bridge project between the first two editions of ATOMOS, consisting of ATOMOS partners plus partners of another EU project called MASIS. It was really exciting to meet with various partners across Europe, even though the number of papers produced was not very high (No. 1 to 4 below). Having left MIT for NTUA and wondering if I made a strategic mistake, I really had a ball with the EU projects.

DTU

At DTU, we were granted EU H2020 project AEGIS:

 

·       Advanced Efficient and Green Intermodal Systems (AEGIS), SINTEF Ocean (Norway) leader, funded by European Commission, 2020-2023.

This has been my first and only EU H2020 project, after 14 (!) previous unsuccessful attempts. Related papers were No. 5 to 8 below. Paper No. 6 received the best paper prize at the MTEC/ICMASS 2022 conference. 

The AEGIS project itself received a prestigious industrial award in 2023, see HERE.

1.     Psaraftis, H.N., 1996, Reduced Manning to Increase  Fleet Competitiveness, IMLA-9 Conference, Kobe, Japan, October.

2.     Dilzas K.P., P.A. Bartzis, D.V. Lyridis, N.P. Ventikos, P. Anaxagorou, H.N. Psaraftis, 2002, Optimizing Manpower On-Board Ships Targeting to the Increase of the Competitiveness of the EU Fleet the Case of a Ship Oriented Automation Electronic Tool (ACOSTOS^TM), 10^th International Congress of the International Maritime Association of the Mediterranean (IMAM), Rethymno, Crete, May. 

3.     Lyridis, D.V., Ventikos, N.P., Zacharioudakis, P.G., Psaraftis, H.N, 2004, Critical Analysis of Tanker Op-Ex Adjusting Crew Synthesis, Automation Level and Maintenance, Proceedings of the International Logistics Congress 2004: Developing Value Networks through Logistics and Transport, Izmir, Turkey, December.

4.     Lyridis D.V., Psaraftis H.N., Ventikos N.P., Zacharioudakis P., Dilzas K., 2005, Cost-Benefit Analysis for Ship Automation Retrofit: the Case of Icebreaker FREJ, Marine Technology, Vol.42, No 2, April.

5. Rødseth, Ø. J., Psaraftis, H.N., Krause, S., Raakjaer, J., Coelho, N.F. 2020, AEGIS: Advanced, Efficient and Green Intermodal Systems, IOP Conference Series, Materials Science and Engineering, 929 012030, presented at the 3rd International Conference on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (ICMASS 2020) 11-12 November 2020, Ulsan, South Korea.
6. Krause, S., Wurzler, L., Rødseth, Ø. J., Mørkrid, O. E., Fjørtoft, K., Psaraftis, H.N., Vilanova, M.R., Zis, T., Coehlo, N. F., van Tatenhove, J., Raakjer, J., Kloch, K., Billesø, M. B, 2022, Development of an advanced, efficient and green intermodal system with autonomous inland and short sea shipping – AEGIS, Proceedings of MTEC2022 and ICMASS2022, 6-7 Apr, 2022, Singapore.
7. Zis, T., Psaraftis, H.N., Reche Vilanova, M., 2023, Design and application of a key performance indicator (KPI) framework for autonomous shipping in Europe, Maritime Transport Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.martra.2023.100095
8. Psaraftis, H.N., Zis, T., Reche-Vilanova, M., 2023, The logistics of autonomous shipping and the AEGIS project, The 8^th International Symposium on Ship Operations, Management & Economics (SOME), 7-8 March 2023, Athens, Greece.  

9.             Parvasi, S. P.,  Fjørtoft, K.,  Nesheim, D. A., Wennerberg. L. A. L.,  Mørkrid, O. E., Psaraftis, H. N.,  2024, Assessing the resilience of sustainable autonomous shipping: New methodology, challenges, opportunities, Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clscn.2023.100126

10.             Parvasi, S. P., Psaraftis, H. N., Michailidis, S., Kloch, K., Krause, S., Tangstad, E., Mørkrid, O. E., 2025, Analyzing inland waterway competitiveness with electric autonomous RoRo vessels: A case study from Rotterdam to Ghent. Case Studies on Transport Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2025.101406