The Facilitation Committee met at IMO Headquarters in London for its forty-eighth session (FAL 48), where a Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) revised roadmap was approved.
In particular, as informed by the IMO, the Committee approved the revised road map on addressing Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) issues related to the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention).
Under the revised roadmap, the Committee is expected to:
- By FAL 49 (Spring 2025): assess the finalized non-mandatory MASS Code
- By FAL 50 (2026): assess the adopted mandatory MASS Code and consider proposed amendments to the annex to the FAL Convention
- By FAL 51 (Spring 2027): adopt amendments to the FAL Convention
The Committee considered the report of the MSC-LEG-FAL Joint Working Group on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS-JWG), which met for its second session in April 2023.
The Committee concurred with a number of elements contained in the report, including on the role and responsibilities of the MASS master, MASS crew and remote operation centres. Among these, the Committee concurred, in principle, that:
- there should be a human master responsible for a MASS, regardless of mode of operation or degree/level of autonomy;
- the master may not need to be on board, depending on the technology used in the MASS and the human presence on board, if any;
- regardless of mode of operation or degree or level of autonomy, the master of a MASS should have the means to intervene when necessary;
- only a single master should be responsible for a MASS at any one time, although several masters could be responsible for a MASS on a single voyage, under certain conditions; and
- a detailed discussion is needed about the circumstances where a master of a MASS could be responsible for several MASS.
The third meeting of MASS-JWG will take place 8-10 May 2024.
