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NORWAY has signed a new agreement with Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands to facilitate better cooperation on the international operation of autonomous vessels.
The agreement aims to simplify the operation of autonomous ships in the North Sea and ensure that they can operate safely within the individual countries' national requirements and frameworks, reports Rotterdam's Offshore Energy.
"This collaboration can help to establish a new international market for the Norwegian maritime industry. The Norwegian maritime industry is far ahead in the development of autonomous solutions. The collaboration will create an arena for further developing efficient and safe solutions for autonomous operation and will be able to play an important role for our maritime companies in the years to come," Marianne Sivertsen Naess, Norway's Fisheries and Oceans Minister, commented.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority sees the agreement as a good framework for common technical standards and solutions.
"The collaboration agreement is important to us for several reasons. Firstly, we want to ensure that Norway is at the forefront when it comes to new technology in the maritime industry. In addition, Norway is a major maritime power, and then the cooperation with other flag states with great weight, such as Great Britain and Belgium, is an advantage.
"This is about the shipping of the future, and when several major shipping nations come together to facilitate and simplify the operation of autonomous ships, predictability also becomes greater for the maritime industry," Alf Tore Sorheim, acting director general of shipping and navigation at the Norwegian Maritime Authority, said.
The five countries will exchange knowledge and information on national activities and follow a common approach to international maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) operations where appropriate.
The agreement concerns cooperation on requirements to be placed on autonomous ships operating in the North Sea basin, namely outside national waters, so that the countries can agree on common technical standards and solutions for the ships pending international regulations.
So far, projects and initiatives have been focused on vessels within national territorial waters. Several ongoing projects now assess market opportunities in the North Sea basin. The development is particularly driven by existing and expected expansions in the field of offshore wind and the development of vessels and operating concepts for their inspection and maintenance.
The agreement is based on existing guidelines from the UN Maritime Organization (IMO) and the EU. The IMO has initiated work to develop non-binding rules for autonomous cargo ships. These are expected to be completed by 2025.
Norwegian subsea services provider Reach Subsea has welcomed the new agreement as the company prepares to launch its first un-crewed vessels.
https://shippingazette.com/
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