Monday, 06 May 2019 07:54

Remote-controlled vessel carries oysters across the English Channel

Modern technological advances continue apace in the seafood industry. Recently, an unmanned, remote-controlled vessel carried a shipment of British oysters from the UK, to Belgium, in an international trade first.

Carrying five kg of oysters, the 12-meter ship’s 22-hour trip across busy shipping lanes was directed from a control room in Maldon and was supported by the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Department for Transport, the Foreign Office, officials in Belgium and the European Space Agency.

 

The vessel is owned by Sea-Kit International, Ltd. It has a maximum speed of 4 knots and a capacity of 2,5 metric tonnes. It is equipped with cameras, radar, microphones, thermal imaging, and a back-up autonomous system.

“This voyage has been months in the making, and to see it all come together is amazing,” Ben Simpson of Sea-Kit International Ltd. said. “The vessel’s potential lies in its ability to be adapted to a range of tasks, whether it be transit, hydrographic surveys, environmental missions, or marine safety and security. We’re tremendously excited to push the technology to its limits and see what we can achieve.”

On its return trip to the UK the path-breaking unmanned vessel reportedly carried Belgian beer.

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