International Maritime Organization gives significant nod towards unmanned and autonomous ships on the high seas
The IMO has agreed to begin a scoping study that could pave the way for autonomous ships on the high seas.
The Maritime Safety Committee of the UN body, meeting this week, has reportedly agreed to launch a study to scope out which parts of international regulations would need to be amended to allow for unmanned vessels to sail in international waters.
Sources at the meeting say this is an important step in the transformation of the industry, but highlight that such a move will not result in any immediate changes.
International regulations such as the the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) and Safety of Life at Sea convention (SOLAS) have ingrained criteria in them that require manned operations of vessels in international waters.
These conventions need to be assessed to determine where any regulatory changes may be needed to allow unmanned ships in international waters.
Individual nations that are members of the IMO are not required to implement IMO regulations in national waters, hence the provisions being made in countries such as Norway, Finland and Japan to promote research into unmanned and autonomous ship technology and capabilities.
Experts have said that any eventual changes to these regulations will take years to be made, and highlight how regional and national endeavours to develop unmanned and then autonomous vessel operations will lead to demonstration projects to underscore the technical capabilities of autonomous operations.
However, despite the sudden surge in interest in unmanned ships, even the most vociferous supporters agree that there will not be fleets of unmanned large commercial vessels on the world oceans for a long time.
One reason is simple economics. For some time to come, it will likely remain cheaper to have crews on board than build the high levels of technology and redundancy needed to create safe, reliable large autonomous commercial tonnage.
fathom-news.com
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