Autonomous ships • Brexit VAT
Trials of autonomous vessels in UK waters are tightly controlled, but sailors should report any incidents, including near misses to the authorities, advises the UK Harbour Masters’ Association (UKHMA).
There have already been ‘significant operational and trial deployments’ of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) in UK waters. Maritime UK, the umbrella body for the maritime sector, recently launched new voluntary guidance on autonomous vessels which included, for the first time, details of MASS UK testing sites. Locations include Ministry of Defence (MOD) test ranges at Portland and Rosneath on the Firth of Clyde and MASS test and evaluation sites including the Isles of Scilly, Fleetwood, Orkney, Shetland, the Solent and Plymouth, where the Smart Sound initiative is based. This 200sq mile area of water, from Looe to Bolt Tail in the South Hams, is a testing and demonstration area for innovative marine technologies, and is where the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) is being developed prior to the trimaran’s maiden Atlantic crossing later this year.
The UKHMA’S executive officer, Captain Martin Willis, sits on the UK Maritime Autonomous Systems Regulatory Working Group which drew up the guidance. He said the technological advances in MASS were ‘fast outpacing the ability to make regulations, frameworks and codes’ and, like introducing driverless cars on the road, the difficulty was safely integrating MASS with existing diverse maritime operations like recreational sailing. He stressed discussions about operational challenges were under way with industry bodies; the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) would shortly be establishing working groups and consulting with stakeholders including British Marine and the RYA. He said the COLREGS would also need to be updated to accommodate MASS technology, although highlighted that most MASS were developed with the COLREGS and International Maritime Organization legislation as the basis of their operating systems.
He said trials were tightly controlled and risk assessed, with the safety guidance and controls of the local harbour master. Many projects were supported by UK Government agencies. Details are available from port websites and harbour offices, with Notices to Mariners issued.
Many trials had manned support boats nearby for ‘instant intervention’ where needed. ‘It’s extremely well managed, with significant safety controls in place. The likelihood of potentially dangerous interaction between MASS trials and the recreational sector are fairly minimal,’ stated Capt Willis.
He advised yacht skippers to keep in touch with the local harbour authority, and report any suspected near misses with a MASS trial to the harbour office.
He said while the MASS sector had developed quickly, it was ‘a significant way off’ before fully autonomous ships would be operating in British waters, with a number of issues such as cyber security ‘proving challenging’. Many UK ports were also not ‘technically enabled’ to deal with MASS within the near future.
MONITORING THE MASS SECTOR
The European Boating Association (EBA), which includes the RYA, is monitoring the MASS sector to protect the ‘safety of navigation’ for sailors. The EBA believes that the burden of any legislation introduced to the manning of autonomous vessels should fall on MASS operators and not recreational sailors, and is against recreational boats being forced to be ‘equipped to facilitate detection by autonomous ships’, such as mandatory AIS. It also ‘strongly supports’ the ‘current steering and sailing rules set out in COLREG and CEVNI’ and these should be applied to autonomous vessels.
The MCA has established the £1m Maritime Autonomy Regulation Lab, to pioneer new ways of regulating the UK’S autonomous shipping industry.