Japan's maritime industry is taking significant strides towards the full-scale commercialization of fully
autonomous ships, thanks to the MEGURI2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Project. This collaborative effort,
administered by the Nippon Foundation and involving 51 companies under the Designing the Future of Fully
Autonomous Ships Plus consortium (DFFAS+), aims to revolutionize the coastal shipping industry and lead the
international competition in autonomous ship technology.

The program is now moving into the second stage, building upon the advancements made during the first stage
which involved several sea trials on board vessels providing real-time experience and insight into the readiness
of the technology.

The MEGURI2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Project has outlined four primary goals to achieve full-scale
commercialization of fully autonomous ships by 2025:

Demonstration Test: The program includes designing next-generation ships capable of supporting the coastal
shipping industry. It will conduct a comprehensive demonstration of ship-land operations to simulate the future
coastal shipping environment facilitated by fully autonomous ships. This test will involve four different types of
ships, including a newly built fully autonomous container ship, an existing container ship, a Roll-on/Roll-off
(RORO) cargo ship, and a remote island route ship with partial autonomous operation capabilities. Additionally,
two Fleet Operation Centers will be employed to manage these autonomous vessels effectively.

Standardization of Developed Technologies: To further refine the fully autonomous ship technology developed
during the first stage, the project aims to standardize these technologies into international standards. This
approach aims to strengthen Japan's maritime industry and position the country as a leader in the global
competition for autonomous ship technology.

Reinforcement of Development Process Infrastructure: Building upon the development process infrastructure
established in the first stage, the program wants to further reinforce it by upgrading simulation technology and
conducting general risk assessments. These measures aim to ensure the robustness and reliability of fully
autonomous ship technology.

Social Implementation: The MEGURI2040 project aims to commercialize an autonomous navigation system,
including a land-based monitoring system, and establish a certification scheme necessary for its
commercialization. The project also focuses on improving the environment for social implementation, including
the establishment of international and domestic rules for fully autonomous ships, human resource requirements
and training methods to accommodate new working styles, deregulation strategies to support continuous
commercial use, and assessing insurance and freight rates for autonomous ships.

Participants
The Japanese 'big three' companies, MOL, NYK and K Line, and their respective subsidiaries, are joining the
efforts.

K LINE is collaborating with other industry leaders, including Japan Radio Co., and YDK Technologies Co. to
retrofit the existing RORO cargo ship 'Hokuren Maru No.2' with unmanned and autonomous navigation
capabilities. The company wants to replicate the sequence of piloting actions previously conducted using cutting-
edge AI technology and other advancements.

The project's goals align with addressing social issues in Japan's coastal shipping industry, such as reducing
labor shortages and workloads, preventing maritime accidents, and maintaining remote island shipping routes.

NYK, Japan Marine Science Inc., and MTI Co. are also taking part in the stage of the project.

“NYK participated in the first stage of MEGURI2040 as one of the companies in the DFFAS Consortium, the
predecessor of DFFAS+, and will continue to support the two companies that are the PMOs (Project
Management Offices) leading DFFAS+ by dispatching maritime officers/engineers to Japan Marine Science Inc.
and MTI Co., Ltd. to provide shipping expertise,” the company said.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is set to take part in the second stage of the program as well. The company will establish a
working group that will oversee a sea trial on an existing container ship, integrating it with an autonomous
operation system.

The primary objective of this working group is to address any issues identified during the initial stage of the
project. They aim to significantly enhance the quality of the autonomous operation system, seeking to
demonstrate that it can perform on par with a skilled navigation officer. Ultimately, this advancement is expected
to reduce the workload during navigation watch, thereby ensuring smoother and safer journeys for crew and
cargo alike.

To accomplish these goals, the working group comprises several key companies, each with specific roles and
responsibilities tailored to their expertise. Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co. will be focusing on improving the accuracy
of the “judgement” and “operation” functions. This includes tasks such as avoidance route calculation, collision
avoidance operation routing, as well as automated ship operation in port and automated berthing/unberthing
operation.

Furuno Electric Co. will concentrate on enhancing the accuracy of the “recognition” and “judgement” functions.
This involves integrating data from various sensors, incorporating image recognition capabilities, and refining
avoidance route calculations, all while integrating a sophisticated remote monitoring system.

Finally, Imoto Lines will provide the necessary test ship and crew members for the sea trial. Additionally, they will
be actively involved in developing the ship operation plan and defining specific requirements concerning
navigation support, particularly in the areas of watch and voyage planning.