Shipping Technology has announced ST Sailing Pro, a new extension to its ST Sailing track pilot that adds automatic propulsion control to the system, the maritime news site MarineLink reported on 17 September 2026.
The new product broadens the remit of the existing track pilot from steering alone to coordinated management of both heading and thrust, bringing propulsion into the automated control loop alongside steering. MarineLink described the release as the next step in Shipping Technology's roadmap towards autonomous sailing.
What ST Sailing Pro adds
According to the report, ST Sailing Pro builds on the company’s established track pilot by incorporating propulsion control so that the system can adjust both rudder and thrust as part of a single control strategy. That integration is presented as an extension of the track pilot rather than an entirely separate product, emphasising continuity with the firm’s earlier offering.
The announcement did not supply further technical detail in the notes provided here, but the framing used by Shipping Technology and reported by MarineLink is that the combined steering and propulsion capability represents an advance in the company’s development pathway. The product name and positioning indicate a deliberate step beyond steering-only automation.
Roadmap to autonomy
MarineLink’s coverage positions ST Sailing Pro within Shipping Technology’s longer-term objective of moving towards autonomous sailing, describing the launch as the next milestone on that journey. The company’s roadmap, as characterised in the report, now includes coordinated control of primary shiphandling functions rather than limiting automation to course-keeping alone.
Bringing propulsion control into a track pilot environment aligns the principal means of manoeuvre with steering commands under a unified control architecture, a point made in the report’s summary of the launch. The move suggests a focus on tighter coordination between heading and speed management as part of system evolution.
The announcement was limited in the factual notes supplied for this item; MarineLink’s report served as the basis for the account that ST Sailing Pro extends ST Sailing to include automatic propulsion control. No information on availability, platform compatibility, certification status, or commercial terms was provided in the material given here.
Shipping Technology’s launch of ST Sailing Pro is presented as a deliberate, incremental advance in automation capability rather than a full autonomy claim, and the company’s stated roadmap as reported by MarineLink frames the product as a building block toward more comprehensive autonomous functions. The industry will watch how operators and regulators respond as such integrated control systems are introduced.