Recently, Hive.Mobility became a partner of SMASH!, the Netherlands Forum for Smart Shipping. SMASH! – short for smart shipping – aims to bring the Dutch maritime sector together in order to implement smart shipping and thus strengthen the international competitive position of the Dutch maritime sector. Smart shipping means: highly automated sailing at sea, in ports and on inland waterways. Smart shipping goes beyond the development of smart vessels: it also involves adapting the off-board sailing environment which allows new vessels to actually be smart.
In the Netherlands, a large number of organizations and companies are engaged in smart shipping and developments in the field of autonomous sailing. Currently their efforts are very fragmented. By working together on a national scale, regional initiatives have the opportunity to connect and thus jointly increase their reach. Their collaboration shall also make it easier to establish international connections. It is exactly for this purpose that SMASH! strives to bring market parties, government and knowledge institutions together.
Smart shipping ties in seamlessly with the ‘Autonomous Transportátion’ theme on Hive.Mobility’s innovation agenda as well as with improving the sustainability level of shipping to zero-emission. In this context for instance, Hive.Mobility’s founding partner the Province of Groningen is already collaborating with its project partners Marinminds and Groningen Seaports regarding several smart shipping topics. As a partner of SMASH!, Hive.Mobility will be the first to – among other things – contribute to project ideas and provide new ideas of their own as well as to share their thoughts and give advice on appropriate policies regarding standards and legislation and influence the actual implementation of the Smart Shipping Roadmap, in which development priorities are to be specified.
