Autonomous Car Carrier ELDER LEADER Makes Its First Call at the Port of Singapore

The autonomous car carrier ELDER LEADER, operated by Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), made its first call at the Port of Singapore on April 29, 2026, during its inaugural voyage. The vessel is a next-generation pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) equipped with a cutting-edge autonomous navigation system and other advanced marine digital transformation (DX) technologies. It also adopts an LNG-fueled design, contributing to reduced carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions as part of NYK’s decarbonization efforts.

In 2024, NYK entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to accelerate maritime decarbonisation, digitalisation, and manpower development efforts in the maritime sector. Based on this MOU, NYK, MPA, and MTI jointly conducted a demonstration trial to verify the feasibility of sharing data from the vessel’s autonomous navigation system with port operation systems during ELDER LEADER’s call at Singapore.

The demonstration trial was carried out under strict safety management, following a prior risk assessment, with ship master, ship’s bridge team and a pilot in attendance. Remote pilotage was limited to navigation through the channel and fairways only. The following items were successfully verified:

• Transmission of voyage planning data from the vessel to MPA’s Next Generation Vessel traffic Management system (NGVTMS) prototypes
• Sharing of pilotage route information from the onshore support system to the vessel, as well as real-time transmission of live operational data and video from the vessel
• Utilization of MPA’s Just-in-Time (JIT) platform to enable smooth and efficient vessel arrival

The successful outcome of this trial represents a significant step toward the practical implementation of autonomous vessels in international shipping. The results obtained will contribute to MPA’s ongoing development of NGVTMS and the study of shore-based support systems capable of interfacing with autonomous vessels.

The NYK Group remains committed to advancing the social implementation of autonomous navigation technologies through collaboration with partner companies and relevant organizations.