DCN May Edition 2019

MARITIME LAW
Autonomous ships:
2019 update and the future
Lawmakers here and overseas have their work cut out as the advent of autonomous
ships gets closer write Michelle Taylor and Stuart Hetherington
REGULATION OF AUTONOMOUS
vessels and legislation dealing with their
safety, manning and operation remain a
particular challenge both nationally and
internationally. The maritime world has
seen a surge of stakeholders take an active
interest in the development and innovation
of autonomous shipping technology. There
is no doubt that autonomous shipping
will continue to develop throughout the
transport industry and across the globe.
Unmanned ships can generally be
categorised according to their level of
automation. In general terms, remotely
operated vessels are controlled and operated
by human operators located onshore in
shore control centres. With completely
autonomous vessels, a human operator
inputs destinations and the vessel will
navigate to these destinations without any
further interaction being required.
IMO AND MASS
In April 2018, the Legal Committee of the
International Maritime Organisation began
a work program for Maritime Autonomous
Stuart Hetherington, partner,
Colin Biggers & Paisley
Surface Ships with a target completion
year of 2020. The aim of the IMO Legal
Committee is to do a gap analysis of
liability and compensation treaties and to
scope the work required for MASS. This
complements the work being done by
the IMO Maritime Safety Committee on
autonomous vessels. The committee has
sought concrete proposals and comments
on a plan of action.
MASS LAW REQUIREMENTS
The IMO Legal Committee work has
been informed by a study of potential
MASS legal requirements done by the
Comite Maritime International, an
international organisation comprising
more than 50 national maritime law
associations. The CMI has analysed eight
IMO conventions: SOLAS (safety at sea),
MARPOL (pollution), COLREG (collision
regulations), STCW (seafarer standards and
training), FAL (facilitation of international
traffic), SAR (search and rescue), SUA
(suppression of unlawful acts in maritime
navigation) and salvage.
DEVELOPMENTS IN UNMANNED
VESSELS
In November 2018 at the CMI Assembly
meeting in London, retired High Court
judge Sir Bernard Eder gave a presentation
entitled Unmanned Vessels: Challenges Ahead.
That presentation noted the following
developments:
• A claim made by Chinese state media
concerning the fastest unmanned
waterborne surface vehicle having a top
speed of over 50 knots.
• A Chinese company that started
building the Wansham Marine Test Field
for testing of autonomous maritime
technology, which is claimed to be the
largest facility of its kind in the world.
• China celebrating the opening of its
Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macao Bridge
by holding the largest cooperative
Michelle Taylor, partner, Colin Biggers & Paisley
unmanned boat manoeuvre in history
using 81 boats.
• Israel developing an unmanned boat
known as the Katana, an unmanned
surface vehicle.
• Rolls Royce in the UK revealing plans for
an autonomous, single role, naval vessel
with a range of 3500 miles.
• Rolls Royce and Svitzer successfully
demonstrating the world’s first
remotely operated commercial vessel in
Copenhagen, Denmark in 2017.
• The world’s first fully electric and
autonomous cargo ship is being built in
Vard Brevik, Norway, the Yara Birkeland.
AUTONOMOUS SHIPPING CHALLENGES
There are many challenges to consider
with autonomous shipping, particularly
with regulation. The UN Convention on
the Law of the Sea, which is often referred
to as the constitution of the seas, uses
both “ship” and “vessel” interchangeably,
and surprisingly, does not define either.
Sir Bernard Eder has suggested the need
for a “universal term that makes it plain
that the concept of a ship or vessel does
54 May 2019
thedcn.com.au