A SENIOR government minister has endorsed the opening of a new marine control centre and has pledged for more investment in the marine sector.

Minister for International trade Mark Garnier MP, visited Porchester based ASV Global, a world leading autonomous vessel technology developer, where he opened a new state-of-the-art marine control centre.

The new centre will be the hub for the company’s ongoing development of a new market-leading ASV (autonomous vessel control system). It will operate the fleet all over the world using satellite communication links.

The technology, which is similar to that of driverless cars, will control unmanned vessels known as ‘droneboats’ out in the Solent, Atlantic Ocean and further afield to be controlled remotely using satellite communication links.

Mr Garnier said the move by the Porchester-based firm was ‘incredibly innovative’ and that Britain should be ‘shouting more’ about its marine engineering sector.

He said: “With world-renowned research institutions and leading innovative businesses the UK’s south coast really is a leading marine and maritime hub.

“The technology is ground-breaking and we need to be investing more in it here in Portsmouth and on the south coast, which is the heart of this country’s marine sector.

“You hear a lot about driverless cars and about drone technology but people do not realise that there is this kind of innovation going on in the marine sector.”

ASV’s technical director, Richard Daltry, described the new centre as a step in the right direction towards wireless control of boats and marine vessels.

He said: “As a result of this innovate UK project and our portfolio of complementary research and development programmes, I am proud to say that we are now ready to start real world testing of our autonomous over the horizon control system.

“This new Mission Control Centre will be instrumental in our continuing developments and will demonstrate our ability to achieve advanced, safe, autonomous operations at sea.”

The UK has the largest marine and maritime sector in Europe contributing £22 billion to the UK economy and currently sustains over 500,000 jobs.