But large companies are also, of course, looking for ways of maximising their profits. In fact, just 15 of the largest vessels produce the same amount of sulphur emissions as all the planet’s cars put together. What’s more? Those ships could be captain-free, and could one day be controlled from many miles away not by humans, but by computers.Ī big driver for updating the world’s ships is the war on pollution. It’s an ambitious idea to tackle a grand challenge of the 21st Century, in which we are simultaneously more inextricably interlinked in global trade, but also face climate change that could change weather patterns, sea levels and seriously affect the journey of goods moving from A to B.

Wärtsilä believes that smarter ships of the future will allow ship owners to more efficiently control the movements of their vessels, reduce fuel consumption and lower emissions. Over the course of a four-hour experiment – carried out by Finnish energy and technology firm Wärtsilä – it was manipulated by their colleague half-way round the world. Meanwhile, on board the ship itself, other workers overseeing the test eyed their equipment and felt the craft bob and pitch under their feet. He watched carefully as a virtual ship’s changing position was plotted on his screen. The engineer’s joystick was directly linked to that vessel, via satellite, allowing him to control its movements precisely – entirely by manual remote control. He wasn’t playing a video game – he was piloting a massive cargo ship thousands of miles away off the coast of Scotland.

Last month in San Diego, California, an engineer sat down at his computer and gripped a joystick on the desk in front of him.

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