Swedish Shipping Policy Lab

Smart ships, or Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships as they are also known, have a great potential to advance shipping and sustainable development through optimisation of operations and maintenance. In situations that pose a risk to humans or where humans tend to lose their concentration, smart ships can also contribute to increased safety onboard and for the environment. In short, smart ships are suitable for operations that are dirty, dull and dangerous. The Swedish Shipping Policy Lab was an initiative to support on-going projects within smart shipping with policy-developing activities with the ambition to strengthen Swedish competitiveness. The project has actively strived for a systematic approach to how shipowners, technology developers and authorities among others can foster policy development and innovation in relation to smart ships. As an outcome the project has identified three policies related to the investigated cases (see Appendix G for more details): 1. Navigational assistance from land – A shared statement by the Swedish Maritime Administration and the Swedish Transport Agency on the role of navigational assistance from land and the need to further investigate the service before it can be regulated in more detail. 2. The Ljusterö Ferry – Certification of ferries is commonly done in relation to an established and consistent set of technical requirements. For smart ships such as the new road ferries procured for the Ljusterö-connection it is reasonable to complement traditional certification with a safety case to ensure that the ship is seaworthy. 3. Smart maritime drones – Ships less than five meters long that do not carry passengers are excluded from national rules regulating the supervision performed by the Swedish Transport Agency. As long as there is no explicit need to inspect a specific ship, the probability of a supervision is low. If an inspection were to incur, it is necessary to show how the smart ship and its operation complies to applicable regulation in terms of laws and collision avoidance. Despite the maritime sector having a long tradition of international governance there are still no international instruments explicitly for smart ships. A conclusion from the policy lab is that while such work is ongoing, there is room for the flag states and their authorities to develop and operate smart ships in accordance with national policies. Or, to paraphrase, smart ships seem suitable for operations that are dirty, dull, dangerous and domestic.