The paper analyses the issue of unmanned autonomous ships from the perspective of international maritime law with a particular focus on crew related conventions and specifically SOLAS, STCW, and MLC. Our primary aim is to identify potential operational difficulties that could deter shipowners from investing or adopting the new technology. Our analysis indicates that there are several areas of ambiguity that would create impediments to a positive investment decision and deter shipowners from adopting the autonomous ship design. With these findings in mind, suggestions are put forward that could alleviate the problems identified.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	unmanned ship, autonomous ship, UNCLOS, STCW, MLC, SOLAS
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Transportation, logistics and supply chains
Research Field:	Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Transport
Objective Group:	Water transport
Objective Field:	International sea freight transport (excl. live animals, food products and liquefied gas)
UTAS Author:	Karlis, T (Professor Athanasios Karlis)
ID Code:	123900
Year Published:	2018
Web of Science® Times Cited:	28
Deposited By:	NC Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics
Deposited On:	2018-01-31
Last Modified:	2018-11-23
Downloads:	0