Decarbonisation, autonomous shipping and the criminalisation of seafarers were among the topics of debate at a special conference to mark the 50th anniversary of The Nautical Institute .

Held in the appropriate surroundings of HQS Wellington in the heart of London, delegates attending the Maritime Leadership in a Changing World conference heard about the latest developments in the road to full autonomy of today’s ships and about the importance of navigating the balance between the role of the seafarer and autonomy.

The conference, which was run by the London branch of the NI, was formally opened by the President of the NI Jillian Carson-Jackson with addresses also given by Martin Taylor, CEO of OneOcean and John Lloyd, CEO of the NI.

Discussing the operational impact of decarbonising shipping, Nicholas Bourque, Chief Strategy Officer, OneOcean and Jeremy Daoust, Director of Product Planning at OneOcean, told delegates that a significant portion of the work to reduce greenhouse gases could be done without hardware changes. Describing it as a multi-dimensional problem, they said that the industry “can’t just dump decarbonising into the mix and just hope for the best”.

Turning to the issue of MASS (Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship) Technology and what to expect on the road to full autonomy, Dr Esmé Flegg, MASS & Future Fuels Policy Lead at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, said that while regulation lagged behind technology, there was an industry desire for some regulatory action to be taken as the industry needed a regulatory framework. Regulation lags behind technology,” he said.

There were no provisions in the Merchant Shipping Act expressly prohibiting MASS operations, but the provisions were vague in nature. It was up to the IMO Maritime Safety Committee to develop a goal-based instrument or code for MASS, delegates were told.

Ross Millar, Loss Prevention Associate at Steamship Mutual, discussed the important issue of Navigating Officers and Autonomy and said that while shipping had worked without such advanced systems in the past, “autonomy is becoming a fact of life”. Its success in other industries had fostered a willingness within shipping to apply technological solutions in the maritime industry with several aims, including but not limited to a reduction in accidents and associated claim rates.

It was important to note, his presentation said, that leadership is provided by competent, experienced mariners, not by autonomous systems. And during a marine casualty, it is the leadership, courage, and actions of seafarers that can make the difference. Leadership is a great human virtue, one that autonomy cannot replicate. It provides crews with the ability to tackle incidents on board and use their experience to adapt and shape the events that ultimately unfold. But technology and crew need each other. They form a partnership that should be able to weather any storm they encounter, he told delegates.

Colin Leggat, Risk Assessor at the UK P&I Club and Mike Yarwood, Managing Director, Loss Prevention at the TT Club, talked to delegates about Criminalisation in Shipping and why it was happening. Delegates were told that under UNCLOS, whenever a ship or seafarer is involved in an incident or accident which results in pollution, the State affected by the pollution must not resort to arresting the seafarer unless the damage has been caused with the intention to cause damage.

“Monetary penalties only may be imposed with respect to violations of national laws and regulations or applicable international rules and standards for the prevention, reduction and control of pollution of the marine environment, committed by foreign vessels in the territorial sea, except in the case of a willful and serious act of pollution in the territorial sea,” they said.