”Remotely controlled ships would
”Furthermore,
unmanned
ships
need new hi-tech navigation, radar, and
could not easily be captured by pirates.”
camera technology on board. Also, com-
Apart from this, maritime safety
munication systems between the ship and
– avoidance of collisions at sea for one
the control centre would have to be very
thing – may yet become a key issue for
reliable,” Kaasinen emphasises.
unmanned vessels.
”If ships could be entirely unmanned,
”Numerous points related to safety
it would mean a lot of savings for the ship-
and international maritime regulations still
owners – not just from personnel reduc-
need to be refined.”
tions, but the ships themselves could be
One problem is that insurance com-
constructed in new ways that would ena-
panies would probably regard unmanned
ble them to carry larger amounts of cargo.
ships as unsafe and, as such, ineligible for
For instance, no cabins or mess halls would
insurance.
be required aboard for the ship’s personnel.”
Further projects for autonomous
ships are already underway. One of them
“
Ships could be
constructed in new ways
that would enable them to carry
larger amounts of cargo.
The first unmanned test vessels could be operated in limited areas, perhaps close to the coastline.
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