Autonomous shipping white paper

The paper, produced by One Sea, examines the safety advances expected from autonomous ship technology to help inform a revised set of maritime regulations. It considers current safety needs, cybersecurity, views from ship owners and operators, the consequences for labour and insurance and the classification implications before offering a proposal recommending next steps.

In his foreword, Captain Eero Lehtovaara, chair of One Sea, writes, “Not only can autonomous ships greatly contribute to increasing productivity, bolstering sustainability and improving working conditions at sea, direct and powerful contributions to enhancing maritime safety have also been identified.

“Technology advances however are dependent on regulatory frameworks. As a group of technology pioneers with some of the world’s most distinguished marine automation technology innovators and enables, One Sea has considerable knowledge and expertise to share as new rules and regulations are developed.”

The need to develop international safety rules covering autonomous ships is now pressing, the paper argues. As a priority, One Sea seeks to engage regulators, insurers, representatives of maritime labour, training establishments, flag administrations and classification societies to help shape the future of autonomous shipping.