Challenges and Developments in the Public Administration of Autonomous Shipping

• Pages: 14-30

LEX PORTUS VOL 9 ISS 1 2023

ISSN 2524-101X

eISSN 2617-541X

DOI 10.26886/2524-101X.9.1.2023.2

Challenges and Developments in the Public

Administration of Autonomous Shipping

Dmytro Luchenko*, Іurii Georgiievskyi**, Maryna Bielikova***

*Doctor of Law, Professor of Department of Administrative Law, Vice-Rector for Research, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (77, Pushkinska St.,

Kharkiv, Ukraine) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8666-2245

**Doctor of Law, Professor of Department of Administrative Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (77, Pushkinska St., Kharkiv, Ukraine)

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8014-7827

***PhD, Department of Administrative Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (77, Pushkinska St., Kharkiv, Ukraine)

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3967-1250

ABSTRACT

This article examines the main trends that exist in the introduction of autonomous shipping

within Maritime Industry 4.0, and it evaluates its positive and negative factors. It is noted that

the human element will impact shipping in this new model as before, although this impact will

change and be transferred to other levels. The legal uncertainties that exist in autonomous

shipping are considered herein, and the ways in which these can be eliminated are outlined

while taking into account the anthropocentricity of existing international legal instruments

for maritime activities, the widespread introduction of digitalization, and the automation

of management and communication processes. The international eorts to develop legal

standards and administration practices for Marine Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) reveal

a commitment to classical approaches to which new practices are gradually introduced in the

development of management systems. This article pays special attention to the changes that

have occurred in the public administration of MASS in order to develop a practical approach

that is capable of quickly responding to new challenges and threats.

CITATION

Luchenko, D., Georgiievskyi, Iu.,

& Bielikova, M. (2023). Challenges

and Developments in the Public

Administration of Autonomous

Shipping. Lex Portus, 9(1), 20–36.

https://doi.org/10.26886/2524-

101X.9.1.2023.2

KEYWORDS

Public administration, 4IR, Ship-

ping 4.0, Maritime Industry 4.0,

MASS, autonomous shipping.

The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Introduction

The new technologies of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR) signicantly impact the public

administration of shipping. As Kranzberg’s (1986) famous rst law states, “technology is neither

good nor bad; nor is it neutral.” Hence, its interaction with social ecology has “environmental,

social, and human consequences.” Autonomous shipping is one of the best examples of the

results of the 4IR, Shipping 4.0, and Maritime Industry 4.0 (Peña Zarzuelo et al., 2020). However,

it also currently poses one of the most complex challenges in terms of legal regulations and

the formation of best practices in the public administration of shipping (Veal et al., 2019).

At the end of 2022, Lloyd announced the certication of the rst surface unmanned ship for

the DriX system. The ship also received Bureau Veritas approval in principle and represents

a signicant step forward in the maritime industry’s transition towards adopting new

autonomous technologies (Grinter, 2022). The issues with Maritime Autonomous Surface

Ships’ (MASS’) security, design features, environmental and social impacts, cyber hazards, and

military operations have been discussed in the literature and on dedicated international and

national platforms for more than ve years. Additionally, ambitious projects in this market were

developed by Wilhelmsen and Kongsberg, the start-up Shone, Rolls-Royce (Salyer, 2020), Port

Liner (A Dutch company has developed all-electric, fully autonomous cargo barges, 2019),

Marin Teknikk (Yara Birkeland, n.d.), and the like. Moreover, the China State Shipbuilding

21LEX PORTUS VOL 9 ISS 1 2023

Corporation commissioned an uncrewed research vessel named Zhu Hai Yun (Zhen, 2023) in

January, 2023. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) took over the administration

of the development of specic legal norms for MASS, and the leading classication societies

and the developers of autonomous ships themselves took responsibility for the technical

standards. In addition, unmanned technologies have proven to be very useful during the

military conict in Ukraine (Kurumada, 2023), which has become an additional impetus to the

development of new systems (Tsereteli, 2022) as well as the Ukrainian armed forces’ assertion

that they needed to create a otilla of sea drones (Ukraine is creating the world’s rst naval

drone eet: It will be funded through United24, 2022).

Methodology

This paper focuses on the main challenges encountered in the public administration

of autonomous shipping and the various means for addressing them. Utilizing global and

transnational approaches to the regulation of shipping, this paper discusses the primary issues

that maritime administration should address during the introduction of MASS. The authors

develop a framework for the gradual unfolding of the regulatory environment for MASS

operations. This research is conducted according to a human-centric approach to reforming

existing regulations given that MASS and conventional vessels will operate simultaneously

1. Factors Inherent in the Introduction of MASS

Today, robotic systems are responsible for the most detail-oriented and time-consuming

processes in which the cost of human error is relatively high. The automation of these

processes eliminates the human factor and results in tasks being completed in an easier,

cheaper, and more ecient manner. Navigation is no exception to this, although unmanned

vessels have yet to be widely distributed, and unied legal regulations are yet to be developed.

The applications of robotic systems can be very diverse as they can be used to monitor the

state of the environment, aid in saving people and protecting coastal and marine facilities,

map narrownesses and other hard-to-reach areas, transport goods, and ght pollution.

Unmanned vehicles can also be used in combat operations in which the risk to humans is

axiomatic. However, the marine environment is highly unpredictable, resulting in the broad

introduction of MASS navigation still needing to catch up to more progressive areas in this

respect. However, it worth noting that maritime navigation pioneered the introduction

of innovative satellite technologies in management and communication processes. It is

expected that articial intelligence (AI) and 5G technologies will soon be widely demanded in

shipping. Therefore, it is time for the marine industry to embrace autonomy, consider how it

will inuence the industry’s future, and the ways in which it can be used in the most ecient

manner (Issa et al., 2022). The reluctance to actively use unmanned systems in navigation

is due to the industry’s traditional conservatism, the long design processes and life cycles

of ships, and a high degree of regulation, especially in terms of safety at the national and

international levels. Ensuring safety is generally the highest priority and is a topic of great

relevance when discussing the development of maritime navigation, including the use of

unmanned models, which is facilitated by the signicant size of ships, the growth in speeds

and trac intensity, dicult meteorological conditions, and the like.

The primary benets of introducing MASS include safety, a reduced crew, and increased

usable cargo space. Safety is mainly connected to the crew’s work onboard. The human

element is crucial in maritime safety (European Maritime Safety Report 2022, p. 197) and

is a constant concern despite all of the technological advances (Plachkova & Avdieiev, 2020,

p. 41). Emergency navigation situations are often caused by crews’ mistakes or shipowners’