Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation  maritime expert group completed a project on International Cooperation in Autonomous Navigation to Promote Safe, Efficient and Sustainable Maritime Transport. The project aimed at accelerating the implementation of autonomous navigation in the APEC region, promoting equal access to technologies and establishing strong and continuous collaboration between the APEC Economies, including Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

As a result, after thorough elaboration, APEC Economies developed and released Policy Recommendations on the Effective Implementation of autonomous navigation. The Recommendations introduced measures supporting the implementation of technology at the domestic level, such as raising public awareness, conducting research, formulating a comprehensive plan or road map, dealing with the regulatory framework, providing infrastructure improvement and skills development, and working out trial projects.

Policy recommendations were presented at the APEC Maritime expert group on September 26 and published at the APEC website https://aimp2.apec.org/sites/PDB/Supporting%20Docs/Forms/Supporting%20Docs.aspx?RootFolder=%2Fsites%2FPDB%2FSupporting%20Docs%2F4868&ProjectID=4868.

Participating APEC Economies stressed their interests and highlighted the importance of the practical implementation of autonomous navigation in the region. In particular, during capacity-building workshops, representatives of Hong Kong, China, expressed their interest in the interpretation of signals by MASS from other ships, the interaction of mass and non-mass vessels, and how it could comply with COLREG. Representatives of Malaysia were attentive to the MASS approaching the port, and representatives of the Republic of Korea highlighted the importance of Situational Awareness Technologies. Representatives of the Philippines stressed that since the technology was new, there was a need to explore more about several issues, including automated berthing, communication of MASS with VTS when entering ports, recognition of MASS, and availability and affordability of the technology. He also added the importance of dedication to implementing such technology, the availability of training modules and simulators, the accessibility of a budget, and the active cooperation of all interested stakeholders.