The National Working Group on autonomous vessels and unmanned maritime navigation, under the General Directorate of Merchant Marine (DGMM) coordination, met this week in order to review progress and milestones of the roadmap achieved in the last semester.
Among the most relevant topics discussed, the DGMM reviewed the MASS Code updates and the status of national certification on autonomous vessel operators and the review of the certification text, which is aligned with the considerations of other members of the group. Progress was highlighted in areas such as cybersecurity and connectivity. The challenges faced by unmanned vessels were also addressed, especially in rescue situations, where the obligation to aid according to current maritime law regulations was reaffirmed.
The company UTEK presented some technological advances and satisfactory tests with its unmanned vessels within the framework of the REPMUS and Dynamic Messenger exercise, emphasizing the importance of anti-collision capacity in autonomous systems. Likewise, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) presented the initiative of a university competition for autonomous sailboats, “Microruta de la Sal”, which seeks to promote training in naval engineering.
PLOCAN contributes to the working group in terms of test-site areas, training and its operational capabilities through the VIMAS fleet and the PLOCAN TRES vessel, as the first and only so far flagged as uncrewed in Spain.
Autonomous maritime navigation is one of the new great paradigms at global scale, with direct repercussions on several socio-economic sectors of the Blue Economy. In 2021, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) published an exploratory study (scoping exercise) of all the regulations that could be affected by this new maritime navigation way, and which addresses the complex task of defining how to modify them to guarantee the coexistence between manned and unmanned vessels in a safe and sustainable manner.
In this context, the DGMM created a multidisciplinary National Working Group on Autonomous Vessels in 2020, where companies, associations, institutions and state agencies exchange opinions and knowledge through regular work sessions, in order to implement a national framework in line with IMO guidelines where regulations, operations, applications, technological development, etc. are feasible and systematically applied, thus contributing to broader challenges in terms of digitalization, security, decarbonization, sustainability, biodiversity, etc. in the marine-maritime domain.
