Large autonomous ships are unlikely to be sailing the world’s oceans in the near future, but a global focus on environmental targets could boost the pace of development.

Mark Johnson, London-based partner at international law firm Haynes and Boone, says the most important factor in the development of maritime autonomous surface ships is setting international regulation that settles their legal operational status.

However, the former Royal Navy captain believes the decarbonisation of shipping will help foster the next levels of advancement.

“The challenge for lawyers is: what regime applies? There is not an international regime that sets guidance in relation to the operation of autonomous vessels,” he says.

Haynes and Boone counsel Fiona Cain adds: “The big change will be when the IMO comes back [this summer], and that will dictate whether it moves quickly or continues at the slow pace we have got at the moment.”

It is estimated that 1,000 unmanned vessels of a reasonable size are in operation, and 1,000 smaller research-type boats, including those in the oil & gas and military sectors.

“I think it is going to be a long time before we have lots of container vessels and VLCCs going round the world built as autonomous vessels,” Johnson says.

“The industry has much larger problems to focus on in relation to fuel types and carbon emissions. But it may be that this [autonomous operation] is a helpful thing to facilitate the use of different fuels.

Fiona Cain supports a goal-based approach to autonomous vessel rules. Photo: Haynes and Boon

“As you get battery advances, if you have [autonomous] systems that reduce the drain on them, it could be beneficial. Subsidies are another reason the development of autonomous vessels will go hand in hand with green issues.”

Johnson cites the Yara Birkeland — the world’s first zero-emissions and fully automated cargoship, whose construction is due to be completed this year — as a project that has been backed by environmental subsidies rather than grants for autonomous development.

Automation is part of the changing face of shipping and its financing, he adds, with the vessel being built for Norwegian chemicals group Yara International, not a traditional shipowning entity.

+ point

The IMO’s scoping exercise into regulating autonomous surface ships defined them as vessels that, to varying degrees, can operate independently of human interaction with the degrees of autonomy organised as follows:

■ Ship with automated processes and decision support: Seafarers are onboard to operate and control shipboard systems and functions, but some operations may be automated.

■ Remotely controlled ship with seafarers onboard: The ship is controlled and operated from another location, but seafarers are onboard.

■ Remotely controlled ship without seafarers onboard: The ship is controlled and operated entirely from another location.

■ Fully autonomous ship: The operating system of the ship is able to make decisions and determine actions by itself.

“It has the potential to change who the players are. It throws up hurdles to traditional ship finance. The Yara Birkeland has not been built on the basis it has an asset value at the end of its life and we will sell it. It’s a fertiliser company building it.”

That can make it easier for other large corporate-financed companies from outside the shipping industry to develop maritime autonomous surface ships — such as Amazon, Google or big logistics groups, rather than smaller shipowners — as there could well be issues with financing on an asset basis.

“Can you walk into a control room and take control of an autonomous vessel? Can you take control of a ship remotely? And if you can, does that give someone else a gateway to break into the control system?” Johnson asks.

Cain adds: “If we can deliver parts to an oil rig without people having to go there, that kind of thing will be helpful in the development of autonomous vessels. But it’s got to work before we start doing these things.”

In the oil & gas and surveying sectors there are opportunities for taking autonomous vessels into dangerous areas or keeping them on station longer, as there is no need to rotate crews, or feed and house them. That can mean burning less fuel and cutting other costs such as insurance.

But liability issues still abound. Johnson concedes that Yara has an advantage in that it is working solely with Norwegian authorities and regulations, while international rules still need to be agreed.

The Yara Birkeland — which will be the world’s first zero-emissions and fully automated cargoship — could be a pointer to the way ahead. Photo: Yara International

“It’s quite hard to see how fault-based liability will work with autonomous vessels. How are you going to structure liability regimes between the builder and the owner, and from the builder down to the sub-contractors, around what could be significant claims relating to what is a small piece of equipment or a relatively small contract price?” he asks.

Johnson and Cain hope to see a goal-based approach adopted by the IMO towards autonomous shipping regulations, rather than one that is too prescriptive and might end up with rules that have a short lifespan or simply do not work with new technologies.

“Shipping outsiders have a lot to learn too. Johnson cites a conversation with a university research department that wanted to send an autonomous vessel across the Atlantic.

“One of the first things I asked is, ‘Who is the owner of this vessel going to be?’ They replied, ‘The university’, and I said, ‘I am not sure you are going to want to be the immediate recourse of any incident — and does the university know you are doing this? What if the vessel stops mid-ocean or hits something? And where are you going with it? You need to be talking to the arrival port’.”