Unmanned vessels – maritime transport in the 21st century

Baltic Rim Economies

Tadeusz Szelangiewicz,
Head,
Department of Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding, Maritime University of Szczecin,
Poland

There are currently about 100,000 ships over 100 GRT floating the seas and oceans. These are diesel-powered ships (there are few electric-powered ships).  Further development of sea transport based on traditional manned ships may be limited due to problems related to: crews (e.g. pandemic, lower interest in the seafaring profession), shipping safety (currently about 80% ÷ 90% of maritime accidents and disasters are caused by humans) and environmental protection (further use of combustion engines and oil-based fuels will increase CO2 emissions and other toxic exhaust components).

One of the new technological solutions that can improve the situation in maritime transport and stimulate further development are unmanned ships. Ongoing analysis suggests that allowing unmanned ships to operate will:

  • reduction of the number of marine accidents and disasters,
  • reduction in operating costs (the cost of building a prototype unmanned 100÷300 TEU container ship will be about 3 times that of a manned container ship of this size, the cost of building an autonomous serial ship ~10% lower than a traditional ship, operating costs 30÷50% lower, travel costs ~40% lower energy consumption, total operating cost reduction ~80%),
  • improved protection of the marine environment (all ongoing projects and research on autonomous ships have electric, zero-emission drives),
  • better planning and optimization of the ship’s route, improving punctuality of arrival at the destination port,
  • better protection of the ship against maritime piracy.

Along with the construction and operation of unmanned vessels, land-based centers for monitoring, supervision and possible remote control of these vessels must be established – ultimately, unmanned vessels will be controlled autonomously (on-board computer with control software along with the entire system of sensors for measurement, navigation equipment and radio communications) or remotely from a land-based center (change in the level of autonomy or in emergency situations).

The design, construction and operation of unmanned autonomous vessels, especially in international waters, requires solving many legal and technical problems.

The major legal and administrative issues to be addressed are:

  • developing regulations to allow unmanned vessels to operate in international waters (such work is ongoing in IMO),
  • clarify whether an unmanned vessel will be allowed (required ?) to take part in a rescue at sea (SOLAS Convention),
  • whether it will (can) have to take survivors on board,
  • how the control of port services or other institutions would be carried out on an unmanned vessel,
  • what should be the procedures and protocols for information exchange between vessels (manned and unmanned) at sea,
  • what role (captain, navigator, first engineer) and responsibility will the operator of the unmanned vessel have from the land – based center,
  • who will be responsible for damaged cargo or sinking of the unmanned vessel (shipowner, land operator),
  • how the seaworthiness of the unmanned vessel will be determined and how the liability of the vessel’s insurer will be defined (if the vessel is unseaworthy, the insurer will not be liable for damages).

The most important technical and technological problems need to be worked out:

  • construction and operational regulations for unmanned ships (Classification Societies), adaptation of the ship’s structure and equipment to the legal regulations concerning e.g. participation of an unmanned ship in rescue operations,
  • new materials for the ship’s hull structure to reduce its weight, resulting in lower propulsive power and increased transportation efficiency,
  • new structural solutions of the ship’s hull and its equipment,
  • propulsion systems, zero emissions for long range or autonomy of the unmanned vessel (currently tested electric propulsion systems with batteries allow for short range, about 200 Mm),
  • maintenance-free electric drive systems and electrical supply systems, in the long term with high power and high voltage,
  • global remote control and monitoring systems and radio communication systems with very low latency and resistance to various interferences, including cybercrimes,
  • port infrastructure adapted for unmanned ships (mooring, unloading, loading, port power supply).

For about 20 years, research on the construction and autonomous control of unmanned ships (the first prototype of an unmanned ship, the Yara Birkeland, began trials in late 2021) has been conducted on models or on existing small, manned vessels (e.g. ferries) operating in internal waters or designated, for research, shipping routes.  In order for unmanned vessels to operate regularly in international waters, legal and technical issues must be resolved. The involvement of many countries with large maritime traditions and research and industrial institutions in conducting research gives reason to believe that in the near future unmanned ships will be widely used, initially on shorter sailing routes.

Email: t.szelangiewicz@am.szczecin.ol

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