The Great Intelligence docked in Shanghai Tuesday signaling a new era for global and Chinese intelligent navigation systems, state media reported Wednesday.
China's first domestically developed smart ship underlines the nation's growing global prowess in intelligent shipbuilding, Chinese experts said Wednesday.
"It shows that China has taken the lead in merchant ship design and construction," Sun Feng, vice president of the China Classification Society told the Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday. "The smart ship has also laid solid foundations for unmanned ship development."
Developed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the 179-meter ship with a maximum load of 38,800 tons will transport coal and salt for Sinotrans Shipping between China, Australia and Southeast Asia, reports said.
The 32-meter-wide, 15-meter-tall vessel boasts an intelligent operating system with an autonomous learning ability that analyzes real-time navigation and meteorological data, picks the best routes and alerts the crew to hidden dangers.
"Great Intelligence will become smarter as it accumulates more data," Xinhua quoted Qiu Bohua, an official at the CSSC Systems Engineering Research Institute, as saying. "Not only can it spot dangers and system bugs, it can also lower transport costs and raise efficiency."
Great Intelligence successfully completed a week's sea trails before delivery. The trial showed outstanding fuel efficiency of 17.67 tons of oil a day at standard speeds, according to China Water Transport, a newspaper administered by the Ministry of Transport.
Compared to Green Dolphin, an ordinary ship of the same capacity, Great Intelligence consumes 4 percent less oil a day, Xinhua said.
"It marks a milestone as the world shipbuilding industry increasingly focuses on green and environmental protection awareness. Such a smart ship will help China maintain its global advantage in the sector," Zhao Nan, director of the port research office of the Shanghai International Shipping Institute told the Global Times on Wednesday. 
Great Intelligence is also the first smart ship to pass official assessments by the China Classification Society and Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 
"The smarter and greener ship model will also help China to attain a greater power of discourse in the shipbuilding industry as well as the international shipping and logistics industry," Zhao said.