Bourbon joins project on building world’s first automated offshore vessel

Kongsberg will act as the project’s primary technology partner.

The vessel, named Hronn, is conceptualised as a light-duty, offshore utility ship servicing the offshore energy, hydrographic and scientific and offshore fish farming industries.

Hronn can also be utilised as a ROV and AUV support ship and standby vessel, able to provide firefighting support to an offshore platform working in cooperation with manned vessels.

Automated Ships has progressed the original catamaran design of Hronn since the project launch on 1 November 2016, opting for a monohulled vessel of steel construction, to provide more payload capacity and greater flexibility in the diverse range of operations.

Bourbon’s entry to the Hronn project follows recent news that it has joined forces with Kongsberg in a new collaboration to develop digital solutions for next generation connected and autonomous vessels.

“In this era of digitalization of industrial services, we are pleased to join this forward-looking project thus demonstrating the positioning of Bourbon as a world reference in terms of operational excellence and customer experience,” said Gael Bodenes, coo of Bourbon Corporation.

Hronn’s sea trials will take place in Norway’s officially designated automated vessel test bed in the Trondheim fjord and will be conducted under the auspices of DNV GL and the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA).

In the second phase of the project, Bourbon and Automated Ships will join forces to search the subsidies to finance the effective construction of the prototype.