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Go a step further, make the ship autonomous, run them in flotillas and have an engineer or two between the whole lot for any mechanical issues. they could have

Go a step further, make the ship autonomous, run them in flotillas and have an engineer or two between the whole lot for any mechanical issues. they could have luxurious staterooms, given that you'd need only a few crew for a dozen ships.

protomyth 10y ago
Rolls-Royce is really pushing the fully automated ships http://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2016/pr-2016-03-22-rr-reveals-future-shore-control-centre.aspx http://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2016/pr-2...
- drcross 10y ago
  This screams of PR vaporware.
  - protomyth 10y ago
    That is a PR release but it is far from vaporware. They have been working on the systems, procedures, and logistics for years. You might want to look into their progress and the industry coverage.
jimjimjim 10y ago
pirates
- pedalpete 10y ago
  If the ship is completely controlled by remote, and the goods on board are essentially immobile (are they going to be able to get cars off the ship on the high-seas), what can a pirate do? They can hop a lift to the nearest port. Also, being 'remote' doesn't have to mean 'unprotected'.
  - vacri 10y ago
    Destroy the uplink to the CNC node for the ship?
    - dogma1138 10y ago
      The Pirates ransom the crew they can't do anything to the ship or the cargo they have no where to offload it.
      - andyjdavis 10y ago
        I suspect there would be enough of value that could be stripped off the ship and removed to make it worth the pirate's time. Bear in mind that it doesn't matter to pirates if they cause millions of dollars of damage to extract a small fraction of that for themselves. Cripple a hugely valuable ship and destroy much of its equipment and cargo to extract a few hundred thousand dollars worth of stuff that you can take with you? Sounds like a reasonable deal for a group of pirates. Hell, they might as well try and sink the ship once they are done with it to make it hard to gather evidence and determine exactly what was stolen. It would take some time for people to do the math to determine what components of ships and common cargo have the highest value Vs their portability but someone would figure it out eventually.
        dogma1138 10y ago
        Sink it with what? they attack it with fishing boats and AK47's you'll need a literal ton of explosives to sink on of those ships. They can't offload the containers and other than the money in the captain's vault there is nothing of value other than the propane tanks in the galley (that and the med bay is the only thing they raid).
        codeduck 10y ago
        5kg of plastic explosive will be more than enough to sink a ship.
yardie 10y ago
Majority are down to a dozen crew members. Organised into 2-3 watches over a 24 hour period. And the kitchen (galley) crew who feed the crew. And at sea things are literally breaking all the time. Ships require ongoing maintenance, as in someone walking around tightening, checking for rust, repairing. Finally, SOLAS rules requires someone to be on watch and manning the radio. Though this I'm pretty sure is ignored by some. I've hailed a few cargo ships and never got a response.

protomyth 10y ago

Rolls-Royce is really pushing the fully automated ships http://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2016/pr-2016-03-22-rr-reveals-future-shore-control-centre.aspx http://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2016/pr-2...

drcross 10y ago
This screams of PR vaporware.
- protomyth 10y ago
  That is a PR release but it is far from vaporware. They have been working on the systems, procedures, and logistics for years. You might want to look into their progress and the industry coverage.

jimjimjim 10y ago

pirates

pedalpete 10y ago
If the ship is completely controlled by remote, and the goods on board are essentially immobile (are they going to be able to get cars off the ship on the high-seas), what can a pirate do? They can hop a lift to the nearest port. Also, being 'remote' doesn't have to mean 'unprotected'.
- vacri 10y ago
  Destroy the uplink to the CNC node for the ship?
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    The Pirates ransom the crew they can't do anything to the ship or the cargo they have no where to offload it.
    - andyjdavis 10y ago
      I suspect there would be enough of value that could be stripped off the ship and removed to make it worth the pirate's time. Bear in mind that it doesn't matter to pirates if they cause millions of dollars of damage to extract a small fraction of that for themselves. Cripple a hugely valuable ship and destroy much of its equipment and cargo to extract a few hundred thousand dollars worth of stuff that you can take with you? Sounds like a reasonable deal for a group of pirates. Hell, they might as well try and sink the ship once they are done with it to make it hard to gather evidence and determine exactly what was stolen. It would take some time for people to do the math to determine what components of ships and common cargo have the highest value Vs their portability but someone would figure it out eventually.
      - dogma1138 10y ago
        Sink it with what? they attack it with fishing boats and AK47's you'll need a literal ton of explosives to sink on of those ships. They can't offload the containers and other than the money in the captain's vault there is nothing of value other than the propane tanks in the galley (that and the med bay is the only thing they raid).
        codeduck 10y ago
        5kg of plastic explosive will be more than enough to sink a ship.

yardie 10y ago

Majority are down to a dozen crew members. Organised into 2-3 watches over a 24 hour period. And the kitchen (galley) crew who feed the crew. And at sea things are literally breaking all the time. Ships require ongoing maintenance, as in someone walking around tightening, checking for rust, repairing. Finally, SOLAS rules requires someone to be on watch and manning the radio. Though this I'm pretty sure is ignored by some. I've hailed a few cargo ships and never got a response.