yet we were still sailing on many ships in the 50s without
it. Where are the nuclear-powered
ships that came and went just as fast? How
about the wind-assisted ships? Sunk without trace — not
because the industry did not want them, but because these
were simply not seen as economically viable. Shipping
companies are not there to fund development. They exist
to make money.
Even if the costs are minimal, the industry is still
reluctant to change. Just look at the state of safety
equipment that could be described in some instances as
stone age. Surely if we cannot lower our lifeboats without
killing sailors, have dangerous lifejackets and fight any
form of legislation to train crews and equip ships for
enclosed space entry, what chance is there of taking such
a step into the unknown — unless, of course, you use the
argument that taking everyone off the ship is a great leap
forward in crew safety.
THE PRACTICAL ARGUMENT
The ultimate idea is that the autonomous ship will sail
from a port and arrive at another without any human
presence onboard, being driven by someone in the head
office. Just what they have always wanted, some would
say. So no pilots, no tugs, no mooring gangs, just ships
moving along serenely on their allotted tracks.
Rolls-Royce recently announced that they have sailed
their first autonomous ship. It was a tug driven round the
harbour by the master from a control centre on the jetty
with a full crew onboard just in case it broke down. At
least someone there had some sense.
As there was no mention of any mooring lines being
made fast, this could hardly be called commercial.
Those who regularly sail their remote-controlled craft
on a large boating lake near me would also be very
surprised by the excited claims of this being a historic
moment for the marine industry, as they have been doing
exactly this for many years now.
One gentleman concerned with this test said that the
captain on the jetty had more awareness of what was
around him. I have always felt that by standing on the
bridge I had better awareness than by standing on the
shore.
Another excited gentleman from Lloyd’s Register
described the event as ‘a landmark moment’ and added:
‘With autonomous ships likely to enter service soon, we
have already set out the “how” of marine autonomous
operations in our ShipRight procedure guidance, as it is
vital these technologies are implemented in a safe way and
there is a route for compliance.’
One must wonder what planet he is living on when he
says that these ships are going to enter service soon. What
shipowner has signed up to build them? What ports have
adjusted all their procedures to receive and sail them?
What are we going to do with all the tugs, pilot boats, and
the associated companies and personnel which, in some
large ports, will be numbered in their thousands?
What about the unions — are they going to tell their
members to quietly pack their bags and go home?
40 SUOMEN MERENKULKU J FINLANDS SJÖFART
G Captain Michael Lloyd.
Then there is all the legislation to change and, bearing
in mind that International Maritime Organisation del-egates
do not even know how to spell the word ‘soon’, that
will take quite a while.
Who is going to deal with pollution, ballast water
control, security and — most important — assisting in
search and rescue? Failure to observe much of the existing
legislation could result in criminal charges, and I have a
pleasant picture in my mind of police from some South
American state turning up in these companies’ offices
ashore and frogmarching the managers off to rot in some
prison for a few years to share in our criminalisation.
RELIABILITY
Quality control has never been a standard consideration in
the world’s shipbuilding yards, although I do admit you get
what you pay for — which, in most cases, is fairly basic.
Considering that ships are generally built to last a maxi-mum
of 25 years with a lengthy time between dry-docking,
it is not surprising that they break down. If the autono-mous
ship is to have a chance of being feasible, the cost of
build will escalate considerably as the yards have to
recruit the technical expertise for such a change in
attitude to building. No crew to blame now.
Even then, there is no guarantee, as most of the
newbuild cruiseships have found out. Duplication is
always the easy answer that is given when these problems
are brought out, but how much duplication are these ships
going to have? Two engines perhaps, dual fire prevention
systems, every valve duplicated? The list could be endless.
Then there is the control technology. Just as an aside, most