Introduction
When it comes to autonomous shipping, grandiose visions of 100% unmanned vessels sailing the world’s oceans and ports are often painted.
In reality, there are still many obstacles to overcome if we’re to reach such a vision. The main barrier is the lack of compelling business cases, along with the lack of an agreed regulatory framework to govern autonomous operations and uncertainty over whether fully unmanned vessels are even desirable. Indeed, a common misconception is to equate “autonomous” with “unmanned”.