A radical MASS transformation  

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the September 2025 issue of Marine Log magazine.

The rapid development of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) is radically transforming the global maritime environment and impacting the viability of virtually every function aboard ship from communications and navigation to speed and collision avoidance. 

Fully autonomous ships utilize technological processes to control navigation, propulsion, and other critical functions without the need for human input, while automated ship systems may simply collect data about the ship’s surroundings and help the human crew make decisions. 

In October 2021, the world’s first 1,000-plus-nautical-mile autonomous and remotely commanded voyage of a commercial vessel at sea was successfully completed. The voyage of the Nellie Blycovered 1,027 miles with 97% of that distance accomplished under fully autonomous control utilizing an AI-enabled SM300 autonomous vessel system developed by Sea Machines Robotics. 

Some 31 collision-avoidance and traffic separation maneuvers were carried out during the 13-day voyage—dubbed The Machine Odyssey—which began and ended in Hamburg, Germany, and was completed in 129 operational hours spread over 13 days, while being constantly monitored by licensed mariners in Boston, some 3,000 miles away.    

The following June, the LNG carrier Prism Courage arrived in South Korea after completing a 33 day, 12,500-mile transit from Freeport, Texas, using autonomous navigation, the first ever use of such technology. 

The transoceanic voyage was overseen by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the Korea Register of Shipping (KR) and involved the use of navigation technology developed by HD Hyundai subsidiary Avikus, for roughly half the voyage. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) currently operates the world’s second-largest government research fleet including a growing fleet of uncrewed systems that support the agency’s core missions of nautical charting, fisheries research, oceanography, and deep-sea exploration along the nation’s entire coastline. The agency has taken a proactive stance toward weaving autonomous technologies into its operations.  

Such uncrewed systems, “serve as force multipliers for NOAA, enhancing traditional data collection methods and allowing us to collect data in regions that are tough to reach or not often explored,” says Lisa Nakamura, acting director of NOAA’s Uncrewed Systems Operations Center, adding that the agency utilizes uncrewed systems “to boost the productivity, safety, and longevity of our research efforts.” 

For example, the agency maintains a fleet of five autonomous ‘hurricane’ drone craft that are deployed in the Atlantic Ocean during hurricane season, gathering data around the clock to help understand the physical processes of hurricanes and improve storm forecasting. 

The craft—Explorer SD 1045s—are the result of a partnership between NOAA and Alameda, Calif.-based designer-developer Saildrone.  

In September 2021, in a first-ever operation, one of the craft was directed into the midst of Hurricane Sam, a category 4 hurricane. Battling 50-foot waves and winds of over 120 mph it successfully collected and transmitted critical scientific data and real-time video observations back to NOAA research laboratories.  

Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard is moving forward with plans to meld MASS technology into its operational strategies with the recent creation of a new Robotics and Autonomous Systems Program Executive Office. 

The office will serve as “a key component” of the Service’s Force Design 2028 plan, and “is poised to be the most transformational enhancement to capability since the inception of aviation” with the core mission of “accelerating the development, acquisition, fielding and sustainment of robotics and autonomous system capabilities across the Coast Guard,” according to Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

As MASS technologies evolve, its breakneck development is being decelerated somewhat by the need for more finely defined regulatory and operational parameters.  

“Safety assurance of autonomous technologies in diverse and dynamic maritime environments remains the foremost challenge,” says Michael Kei, vice president, technology at the American Bureau of Shipping.   

The key concerns, he says, “include sensor performance and reliability in adverse weather conditions, cybersecurity resilience, and effective interactions between human and autonomous systems.The regulatory environment for operating uncrewed systems, says NOAA’s Nakamura, “is still in development, which can make operationalizing systems challenging in a changing landscape.” 

While DNV, the classification society, has compiled its new Autonomous and Remotely Operated Ships notations to establish a framework for how auto-remote vessels can achieve equivalent or higher safety compared to conventional vessels, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is currently developing a regulatory framework for autonomous ships in commercial operation in international waters. 

Designed to address cross-cutting issues such as safety, training, and legal liabilities, the framework is generally expected to be adopted by member countries on a non-mandatory basis by the end of this year and be put in force on a mandatory basis for member countries in 2032 by amending an existing IMO convention.  

As a starting point, the organization has issued recommendations as to what vessels are best suited to fully-autonomous operation, specifically proposing that AI-generated operational autonomous technology be utilized in the design of research vessels used to collect weather and other scientific data; specialized vessels designed for disaster response such as monitoring oil spills or extinguishing shipboard fires; small to medium-sized cargo carriers involved in transiting rivers or inland waterways; and short distance passenger ferries used on inland, river, or coastal routes. 

In a final note, the IMO has said that all autonomous ships “should have a human in control either onboard or in a remote location, or who can take control when necessary.” 

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