Issue link: https://autonomy.trimble.com/en/resources/i/1495588
Can Innovation and Technology Solve the Challenges of a Shrinking Labor Force? In addition to their work with large freight vessels, Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding works with small passenger ships used to transport people on routes between the small remote islands in Japan. As an island nation, Japan relies on these smaller vessels to transport commuters, tourists and goods to and from smaller remote islands near the mainland. With its aging population, and a global shortage of seafarers Japan is currently facing a labor shortage of qualified seafarers to captain these Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding is an engineering product manufacturing company based in Japan and focused on design and engineering for the marine and shipping industries. As a long-time Trimble customer, they utilize the Trimble BX992 GNSS receiver for highly precise position and heading information to navigate their large shipping vessels in and out of busy harbors during inclement weather. With centimeter level accuracy, and continuous positioning in GNSS challenged areas, Trimble delivers position and orientation solutions allowing returning vessels to safely and autonomously navigate harbors in Japan, as well as other ports across Asia. The seafaring labor market in Japan has been steadily shrinking over time, and new demand is emerging for a solution to a tight labor market for smaller vessels. Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding once again turned to Trimble for help with creating a safe, effective and sustainable solution to tackle this challenge. Challenge smaller vessels. A recent study * warns of a significant global seafarer shortage by 2026. To solve for these challenges, the Nippon Foundation has started the unmanned ship project, "MEGURI 2040" in 2020. It aims to realize practical fully autonomous ships by 2025. In this project, Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding looked to autonomous technology. By launching an autonomous vessel, without a captain, Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding could solve for the ongoing labor shortage challenge, and could be used both for passenger ships to transport people between the islands, as well as to reduce the workload of seafarers. Overview