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Finland's VTT develops land-based remote steering for ships
 Demo: control room for an autonomous ship. Credit: Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing safe steering for the remote-monitored and controlled autonomous ships of the future. The new technology has been developed for navigation systems and ship autopilots, which steer ships automatically.

The ships of the future will largely be controlled by artificial intelligence. However, these autonomous unmanned vessels must be monitored and controlled on demand by land-based professionals. This trend sets new challenges also for autonomous ship navigation systems, which must be able to control ships in various situations.

"VTT has deep knowledge of autonomous ship research concerning especially reliability and safety topics. Such special expertise has now led to the development of navigation systems for autonomous ships," says Jussi Martio, a Senior Scientist at VTT. This requires an autopilot, which is used to control a moving vessel, including during evasive manoeuvres according to COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea).

The Apilot autopilot under development by VTT has three modes: track, heading and slow joystick control for docking situations.

In track mode, Apilot steers the ship along a previously agreed route.. If the ship detects another vessel, which must be avoided, the autopilot switches to heading mode. This enables Apilot to avoid the other vessel with a small change in the ship's heading. Autopilot returns to track mode after the other vessel has been avoided.

Ship simulator. Credit: Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)

In the joystick mode, control and propulsion equipment are adjusted to low speeds manoeuvrings. Apilot puts the ship into the desired operating mode, for example to manoeuvre sideways into a dock.

In all situations, the autopilot ensures that the ship remains within a set distance from the planned route. If the limits in question are exceeded, the autopilot gives a warning and remote control must be taken of the ship.

User-oriented navigation

Human factors must be considered when designing the remote monitoring and control systems of vessels. VTT has studied interaction between humans and technology in maritime transport and has developed new concepts for the bridges and remote shore control centres of the autonomous ships of the future. The aim is to make operations more safe, efficient and comfortable by seeking new solutions that enhance operating methods, as well as the usability and user experience of technologies.

Output: Finnish company VTT Technical Research Centre is developing software for autonomous ship navigation systems to make land-based control safer and more efficient. The Apilot autopilot system has three modes: track, heading, which allows the operator to make changes to a route if another ship is in the way, and slow joystick control for docking situations. The system also gives out a warning if set distance limits between vessels are breached. VTT anticipates that the ships of the future will largely be controlled by artificial intelligence.


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BP, Repsol make two gas discoveries offshore Trinidad
 BP Trinidad & Tobago (bpTT) has made two significant gas discoveries after drilling the Savannah and Macadamia exploration wells in offshore Trinidad.

Both discoveries are estimated to contain nearly two trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas, which will encourage new developments in the area.

bpTT regional president Norman Christie said: “We are starting to see the benefits of the significant investment we have made in seismic processing and Ocean Bottom Seismic acquisition. Savannah and Macadamia demonstrate that with the right technology, we can continue to uncover the full potential of the Columbus Basin.”

bpTT drilled the Savannah exploration well into an untested fault block located east of Juniper field in more than 500ft water depths, nearly 80km south-east coast of Trinidad.

A semi-submersible rig was used to drill the well, which encountered 650ft net pay in hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in two main intervals.

"It was drilled to test exploration and appraisal segments below the existing SEQB discovery."

The company intends to develop these reservoirs through future tieback to the Juniper platform due to come on-stream this year.

The Macadamia well was drilled to test exploration and appraisal segments below the existing SEQB discovery and penetrated hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in seven intervals with around 600ft in net pay.

bpTT owns 100% working interest in Savannah and Macadamia wells.

In addition, the company received approval to develop its Angelin offshore gas project located nearly 60km from south-east coast of Trinidad in water depth of around 65m.

The project comprises construction of a new platform which will represent bpTT’s 15th offshore production facility in the area.

Output: BP Trinidad & Tobago makes two "significant" discoveries containing about 2 tn cubic ft of natural gas with Savannah and Macadamia exploration wells offshore Trinidad. The fields are the largest discoveries in Trinidad and Tobago in a decade and Repsol's biggest in five years.


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Esure esure wins High Court case on costs shifting
 Costs in excess of £20,000 to be recovered by esure following today’s High Court ruling

Horwich Farrelly, has achieved a landmark ruling on behalf of esure, in the appeal of Rachel Mee and Others v esure Insurance Ltd, paving the way for insurers to recover costs from credit hire organisations (CHOs).

The High Court judgment, handed down earlier today, dismissed an appeal by Southport-based Select Car Rentals (North West) Ltd that the CHO was to pay 60% of esure's costs. As a result, esure now expects to recover costs in excess of £20,000 from Select.

The matter concerned claims made to esure by Miss Rachel Mee and three others following an alleged road traffic collision on 27 April 2013. Following the incident, Miss Mee hired a vehicle from Select, which she kept for a period of 388 days at a total cost of £23,456.85. However, when esure investigated the case it emerged that she had purchased a replacement vehicle nine weeks after the incident, so had no need to continue the hire beyond this point.

Following a three day trial in October 2015, Recorder Grundy dismissed all four claims because the claimants failed to prove that they were even involved in the alleged accident. He declined to find that the claims were fraudulent although he made the observation that they were "very suspicious".

As esure were not able to recover costs from the claimants, the insurer applied for a (non-party) costs order against Select in March 2016. At a hearing on 8 December 2016 Recorder Garside QC ordered Select to pay 60% of the costs to esure, which were estimated at a minimum of £20,000. Select appealed this order, arguing that the case was wrongly broadening the circumstances in which costs may be made against a non-party.

At a High Court hearing on 24th May 2017, Mr Justice Turner rejected Select’s argument citing the observation by the Court of Appeal (in Deutsche Bank v Sebastian Holdings) that "the only immutable principle is that the discretion must be exercised justly”.

In order to have an enforceable costs order, esure relied upon the relevant exception to Qualified One Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) which applies to proceedings that “include a claim which is made for the financial benefit of a person other than the claimant". The QOCS Practice Direction ("PD”) states that examples of such claims "are subrogated claims and claims for credit hire". Select invited Justice Turner to read into the PD so as to provide its meaning as "examples of claims which may be made for the financial benefit of a person" but he declined to do so.

He further disagreed that a defendant has to establish that the CHO made a profit from the litigation stating "some money is better than no money".

Justice Turner also rejected arguments that non-party costs orders should only be made in exceptional circumstances or that the non-party must exercise a degree of control over the litigation stating:

"The fact that any given credit hire organisation’s connection with a claim is no greater than is commonly the case does not, without more, provide it with an automatic immunity from a non-party costs order. There is no room for the argument that it is a prerequisite to the making of such an order that such involvement be exceptional."

Ronan McCann, Partner at Horwich Farrelly, commented “This decision, which follows a successful trial in a case originally dealt with by our Counter Fraud team, will impact upon all credit hire claims. It is one of the most significant decisions on credit hire and QOCS to date, and paves the way for defendants to obtain costs orders against credit hire organisations.”

Graham Hughes, Chief Claims Officer at esure added ”This is an excellent result for esure and the industry. This ruling indicates CHOs won't be able to hide behind QOCS and that they will have to give serious consideration to well-judged offers by defendants."

Output: Esure is hailing a recent legal victory as "one of the most significant decisions on credit hire and qualified one way costs shifting to date", following a High Court ruling that could enable insurers to recover costs from credit hire organisations (CHOs). "This is an excellent result for esure and the industry. This ruling indicates CHOs will have to give serious consideration to well-judged offers by defendants," said Graham Hughes, chief claims officer at esure.