Denmark ShippingLab for Smart Shipping

A new Danish maritime research, development and innovation partnership has been established under the name of ShippingLab.

Danish shipping company J. Lauritzen together with Maersk Tankers, DFDS, Torm and a range of other shipping companies, industrial maritime suppliers, research and technology institutions and universities have formed the partnership, where industry and academia work together with the purpose of solving practical issues to the benefit of society.

The overarching goal of the partnership is to develop Denmark’s first autonomous, environmentally friendly ship. The pathway to achieving that goal will also include workstreams on digital ship operation and decarbonisation.

The workstream on digital ship operation will focus on the development of intelligent solutions, for instance by adopting machine-learning data analytics.

The workstream on decarbonisation will focus on areas such as the electrification of ship propulsion and the use of multiple power sources in a hybrid setup. The goal is to introduce clean tech solutions with low or no carbon footprint, to be used during port stay, for instance.

The partnership is supported by various Danish Funds including the Danish Innovation Fund (Innovationsfonden), the Danish Maritime Fund and our owner Lauritzen Fonden. The project is scheduled to run for three years.

J. Lauritzen is involved in different subgroups of ShippingLab and Senior Vice President, Claus Winther Graugaard, Head of Fleet Management, is a member of the steering committee of the partnership.  He commented: “The ShippingLab innovation platform is a fantastic collaboration opportunity for J.Lauritzen and its industry peers to partner up with mutual interest and motivation to identify and apply new clever solutions and technology to a number of use cases.

ShippingLab is an enabler for players in The Blue Denmark to accelerate how we compete together against the rest of the world.”