Tag: autonomous ships

Finland will allow remote pilotage subject to authorisation in public channels and in the Saimaa Canal lease area, that have been marked as routes requiring pilotage. The Pilotage Act will now allow the pilot to perform his/her duties somewhere else than onboard the vessel. Finland proposed on 17 January 2019 that the Pilotage Act be adopted and is now expected to enter into force on 1 February 2019.

As modern control systems and autonomous shipping modules perform more tasks and there is massive disruption of maritime jobs, a wider array of education and skills-building are required to meet future demands. There are two uncertainties though: Will well-prepared seafarers be able to keep up in the race with autonomous systems? And which will be the most important requirements for ship operators to survive the maritime workforce of the future?

On 15 January the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the World Maritime University published a flagship report called 'Transport 2040: Automation Technology Employment - the Future of Work'. The report analyzes how the global transport industry will change because of automation and advanced technologies.

Digitalization is a constant theme in shipping right now; smart technologies are already making a great impact on the industry. 2018 was an interesting year for shipping, with major developments in the field of digitalization and further steps toward the so-called smart shipping era.

Autonomous ship is a marine vessel with sensors, automated navigation, propulsion and auxiliary systems, with the necessary decision logic to follow mission plans, sense the environment, adjust mission execution according to the environment, and potentially operate without human intervention. The maritime industry benefits by autonomous vessels since the latter includes operational efficiency, human error reduction, emission reduction, increased safety, and operational cost reduction. 

MPA Singapore informed that it will conduct testing of autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles off St. John's Island. The tests will take place from January 7 until January 18. The tests will last from 9 am to 5 pm daily.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, multimodal operator, Samskip, announced that it will lead the challenging initiative to develop autonomous, zero-emissions containerships that, at the same time, operate at a profit.

As autonomous shipping is gaining more and more ground, it is contended that the present fault-based collision liability regimes of most jurisdictions do not sufficiently cater for the situations that may arise, highlights Lina Wiedenbach, Lawyer at Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein, IUMI Professional Partner.

Toyota partners with Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics to focus on investing in autonomous ships along with Brunswick Corp, through investment partner TechNexus Venture Collaborative, NextGen VP, Geekdom Fund, Launch Capital, LDV Capital and others.

The 100th session of IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 100) concluded on 7 December, approving the framework and methodology for the regulatory scoping exercise on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), following testing of the methodology by a correspondence group.