and the 2007 Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, as well as the 1969
Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution
Casualties and the 1973 Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases
of Marine Pollution by Substances other than Oil. It is suggested that also these
treaty instruments ought to be examined to establish whether they need to be
amended to take into account the special conditions in the polar regions.
5.2 Unmanned Ships
5.2.1 The Concept of ‘Unmanned Ships’
The term ‘unmanned ship’ refers to a ship that has no crew members on board. There
are two main categories of such ships.
The first category comprises vessels that are controlled remotely by a controller
located either on shore or on a mother vessel using electronic computer equipment.
The controller uses either line-of sight communication or a global positioning system
to control the vessel and is assisted by cameras and censors fitted on the ship. These
vessels are generally referred to as remotely controlled unmanned craft. It could be
argued, however, that such vessels are not really unmanned, because they are
‘manned’ by individuals although these individuals are not on board the ship.
The second category comprises vessels that are pre-programmed and use a
combination of sonar radar, advanced computer software and very fast algorithms
which enable the vessel to follow a pre-programmed navigational course without any
human intervention. Vessels in this category are generally referred to as autonomous
unmanned vessels. Such vessels may be either unsupervised or supervised by a
shore-based remote controller.
These two modes of operation may be used consecutively on the same voyage.
The vessel could for instance be fully autonomous in open waters but remotely
controlled during other parts of the voyage.
This distinction between these two categories is however too simplistic. There are
in fact craft of a number of different degrees of autonomy, dependent on the extent to
which tasks traditionally carried out by crew members on board are instead
performed through machinery located outside the ship.
63
5.2.2 Future Role of Unmanned Ships
It is likely that unmanned ships will play an important role in shipping in the future.
Research in this field is being carried out in a number of countries. Unmanned
vessels are at present used mainly by the marine scientific research communities and
63 For a detailed discussion of this issue see Ringbom (2019), p. 2.
274
M. Jacobsson
Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution
Casualties and the 1973 Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases
of Marine Pollution by Substances other than Oil. It is suggested that also these
treaty instruments ought to be examined to establish whether they need to be
amended to take into account the special conditions in the polar regions.
5.2 Unmanned Ships
5.2.1 The Concept of ‘Unmanned Ships’
The term ‘unmanned ship’ refers to a ship that has no crew members on board. There
are two main categories of such ships.
The first category comprises vessels that are controlled remotely by a controller
located either on shore or on a mother vessel using electronic computer equipment.
The controller uses either line-of sight communication or a global positioning system
to control the vessel and is assisted by cameras and censors fitted on the ship. These
vessels are generally referred to as remotely controlled unmanned craft. It could be
argued, however, that such vessels are not really unmanned, because they are
‘manned’ by individuals although these individuals are not on board the ship.
The second category comprises vessels that are pre-programmed and use a
combination of sonar radar, advanced computer software and very fast algorithms
which enable the vessel to follow a pre-programmed navigational course without any
human intervention. Vessels in this category are generally referred to as autonomous
unmanned vessels. Such vessels may be either unsupervised or supervised by a
shore-based remote controller.
These two modes of operation may be used consecutively on the same voyage.
The vessel could for instance be fully autonomous in open waters but remotely
controlled during other parts of the voyage.
This distinction between these two categories is however too simplistic. There are
in fact craft of a number of different degrees of autonomy, dependent on the extent to
which tasks traditionally carried out by crew members on board are instead
performed through machinery located outside the ship.
63
5.2.2 Future Role of Unmanned Ships
It is likely that unmanned ships will play an important role in shipping in the future.
Research in this field is being carried out in a number of countries. Unmanned
vessels are at present used mainly by the marine scientific research communities and
63 For a detailed discussion of this issue see Ringbom (2019), p. 2.
274
M. Jacobsson