A Study On Legal Status And Regulations Of Unmanned Ships

With the development of the shipping industry,the most concerned issues currently are maritime navigation safety,marine environmental protection,shipping efficiency and cost control.The emergence of unmanned ships will bring new possibilities to solve these problems.With the maturation of the technology,unmanned ships begin to move from conceptual stages to practical stages.At present,introducing unmanned ships into the field of maritime transportation will bring some difficulties to the investors of the technology and the maritime regulatory authorities,one of the key issues is as follows.Should unmanned ships be integrated and regulated on the same legal basis with ordinary manned ships,or should they be categorized separately and special legal rules be formulated for them?This dissertation will analyse the legal status of unmanned ships and the application of maritime international conventions to them.The article is divided into four parts in addition to the introduction and conclusion.Chapter one states the basic legal issues of unmanned ships,i.e.the legal status of unmanned ships.According to the different autonomy levels and operation modes,unmanned ships are divided into two categories.Then it explains the meaning of ship from the international conventions perspective and the domestic legislation perspective,and draws the conclusion that a unmanned ship constitutes a ship of legal significance.Chapter two mainly analyses the legal status of the remote operators.By analyzing the definitions and functions of Captain and Crew,it is concluded that such operators cannot be viewed as Captains or Crews.However,because of the nature and tasks of the operators,they need to master certain navigational knowledge and skills.Chapter three focuses on the maritime international conventions represented by SOLAS and COLREGS,and analyses the obstacles in the application of the key provisions to the two types of unmanned ships.For remotely operated unmanned ships,simultaneous human perception and control competence can still be effectively developed,while completely autonomous unmanned ships do not require human intervention,therefore there are differences in the application of maritime international conventions to two types of unmanned ships.On the basis of the previous analysis,chapter four indicates that the status of unmanned ships can be established on the basis of amending relevant conventions,and proposes some suggestions for the construction and perfection of the relevant international rules for unmanned ships.