The Europe Commission’s functional (EN IEC 62061) and control (EN ISO 13849) safety standards, and, in particular, the Machinery Directive have increased the safety demands placed on marine systems and applications. These requirements apply equally to software components. All related marine equipment, such as access points, bulkhead or tailboard controls, as well as conveying machinery, cranes, and dredging vessels must comply with these increased standards. This is particularly the case for offshore drilling and extraction platforms, where the most stringent requirements are placed on protecting people, equipment, and the environment. For example, danger to persons must be eliminated in the hazardous area of hydraulic pipe handling arms.

Under Maritime 4.0, big data will check in on large ships within commercial shipping. While Industry 4.0 continues to adopt specific forms for process automation, the first cyber-physical systems and cloud-based network structures, which will ultimately optimize maritime operations, still have a long way to go before they are ready for sea travel. It is primarily German maritime equipment suppliers that are convinced Maritime 4.0 will enable them to achieve enormous gains in commercial shipping efficiency. Is this merely a rosy outlook on the part of German industry? After all, they lead the global list of suppliers according to VDMA statistics. What does big data actually offer the maritime sector, and what new challenges are linked to these massive data sets?

With increased digitization and networking aboard ships, the risk for data abuse and cybercrime also increases. Anyone considering the possibilities of Maritime 4.0 must also consider the increased requirements for IT security – and more importantly, find suitable solutions for implementing it.

In the Marine Industry, the impact of equipment failure is a uniquely specialized event. Ships at sea, unlike shore-bound physical plants, do not have the luxury of local maintenance and repair operations onboard and must instead carry their own troubleshooting solutions with them. Because of this, what might have been perceived as a small or temporary risk on shore may be perceived as a much more serious concern in the open water.

Crewless ships instead of the romantic notion of a sailor? Initiatives for autonomous ships are driving this development. However, the path from the engine room, which can currently operate for a maximum of 24 hours without direct intervention, to an autonomous ship, which should be able to operate for up to six weeks without human intervention, is still long. WAGO’s redundancy concept for controllers is shortening this path and offers a solution for compensating for faults occurring in the automation systems and for ensuring the continued operation of technical systems.