Why Should we consider Autonomous Shipping? In view of the question of why autonomous shipping is considered and investigated, Porathe, Prison, and Man (2014) present four reasons:

• the need for better crews’ working environment onboard and for mitigating the risk of a future shortage of seafarers;
• the efforts to reduce transportation costs;
• the global need of reducing emissions; and
• the demand for improving the safety in shipping.

With the introduction of low or zero-carbon alternative fuels, the reduction of ship pollution and emissions and enhancement of ship safety are more demanding than ever (Kim et al. 2017). Under these circumstances, the advent of autonomous vessels named Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) will be a monumental incident that can either disrupt or induce the paradigm shift in the shipping industry and maritime transport system as a whole. The safe, effective, and efficient adoption and operation of MASS would depend on communication and collaboration among stakeholders, especially those engaged in the shipping and port industries.

Regulatory Challenges of IMO. On the regulatory side, IMO (2017) decided to embark on the Regulatory Scoping Exercise (RSE) to determine the safe, secure, and environmentally sound operation of MASS. The RSE would be a complex issue since it will affect many areas including safety, security, interactions with ports, and pilotage in response to incidents and the marine environment. International maritime conventions such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG) and the Standards for Training and Certification of Watchkeepers (STCW) will be applied to MASS (IMO, 2018a), IMO Member States will be requested to review the scope of domestic laws, taking into account compliance with the RSE.

Ways to Overcome Challenges in the Maritime Industry. In terms of technology, using the latest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems, ships will be built with enhanced control capabilities, communication, and interfaces, and they will soon be operated by means of remote land-based or offshore services (Komianos 2018). Unmanned vessels are already in use for military, aerospace, or scientific purposes. Submersible-unmanned vehicles, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) or remotely operated vehicles (ROV), are also used and continue to be developed for deep-sea exploration. However, the technology replacing manning needs to outperform the crew in terms of safety, efficiency, and environmental protection (DNV GL 2018) is still a futuristic vision albeit an achievable one. On the industrial side, it is easy to find a certain level of unmanned systems in other modes of transport such as the airplane, train, and automobile industries where autonomous vehicles are already under development. Regarding the maritime industry, MASS is expected to change shipbuilding, equipment and device, and shipping and port infrastructures substantially.

Therefore, in order to successfully introduce MASS, proper communication and cooperation with relevant stakeholders, especially the shipping, shipbuilding, and port industries must be preceded.

Finally, a number of significant challenges still remain to be resolved, but the benefits to the environment, business, and society will necessitate multidisciplinary actions to address these issues on the MASS. The most important task of sustainable development in the maritime industry of the future is to understand all these dimensions and their interconnections to achieve minimal safety risk, minimal environmental impact, and maximum commercial benefits.