Unmanned ships, from fantasy to reality / ANALYSIS

Genoa - The design, construction and operation of autonomous ships is an ambitious step forward in shipping. Even if it will take some time to come true, it seems not so far away the time when traditional and autonomous ships will coexist. Digitalization and automation are bringing radical changes in the maritime sector, with significant impact on the business model and the role of the human element, bearing in mind continuous effort for improving safety and efficiency, facilitating maintenance and shore-based support.

Highly automated and increasingly software controlled ships, combined with the enhancement of maritime communication and connectivity, pave the way to smart ships at different levels of autonomy, from partially automated systems that assist the crew to fully autonomous systems that are able to undertake ships’ operations without any human intervention.

Whilst many research projects and prototypes are currently ongoing – several challenges are to be faced in order to develop a clear regulatory framework for such ships, dealing also with their co-existence with conventional manned ships. These aspects are under consideration in international regulatory fora.

In fact - following the submission of many Member States (i.e. Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, UK and US) – the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in June 2017 agreed to start an exercise with the aim of identifying:

- IMO regulations that, as currently drafted, preclude unmanned operations;

- IMO regulations that would have no application for unmanned ships (as they purely relate to the human presence on board); and

- IMO regulations which do not preclude unmanned operations but need to be amended in order to ensure that they are carried out safely, securely and in an environmentally sound manner.

The target completion date for such scoping exercise is 2020 and further discussion is expected to take place at MSC 99 in May 2018.

IACS is committed to participate in the IMO work and - taking into account the inevitable involvement of IACS Members in future autonomous ships’ classification and statutory certification – decided to:

- review all IACS Resolutions currently in force to identify possible aspects that may hinder the development of fully autonomous cargo ships (i.e. self-navigating ships without human influence either by crew or remote control). The choice of cargo ships is given by the consideration that fully autonomous passenger ships are not likely to come reality in the near future;

- as a pilot project, select a few IACS Resolutions covering traditional classification areas (e.g. hull, machinery, survey) and make the necessary modifications for their application to fully autonomous cargo ships;

- commit not to introduce new hinders for fully autonomous cargo ships when new IACS Resolutions are drafted in the future.

RINA is actively participating in such a big revolution in shipping, aiming at contributing to the international regulatory work and debate and welcoming any comments and suggestions from ship designers, builders and operators.