The Legal Challenges of Unmanned Ships in the Private Maritime Law: What Laws Would You Change?

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Maritime law is in many ways a traditional area of law, were traditions are not easily discarded. Even so, maritime law has over the years proved itself flexible and able to adapt to new phenomena. Recent technological developments indicate that the concept of unmanned cargo vessels could be a reality in the near future. This paper aims to tackle the following objectives. Firstly, is the unmanned ship, with no captain or crew on board, still a ship? Numerous conventions dealing with private or public maritime law are applicable to seagoing vessels, and either apply their own definitions or do not provide any definition. National maritime laws give an equally heterogeneous picture. It may be concluded with a considerable degree of certainty that having a crew on board, including a master, is not generally regarded as an essential part of the notion of a ship in the regulatory definitions of the ship. The second part of this paper aims to give an overview of the seaworthiness understanding. To begin with, is the unmanned ship, with no captain or crew on board, still a seaworthy ship? By way of methodology, this research’s scope embraces the concept of seaworthiness under the Carriage of Goods Conventions and our Spanish Maritime Navigation Act. A particular focus is given to the human element as a significant aspect of seaworthiness. This part will come to the conclusion that the current legal framework considers the ship’s crew as a prerequisite to qualify a ship as seaworthy, but is still necessary a “ship’s crew” on board the ship? Finally, we will briefly look at how the unmanned vessel will affect private maritime law, including transportation of goods at sea, chartering of vessels and marine insurance. Issues concerning liability will have to be considered and dealt with in a number of areas, including the aforementioned concept of seaworthiness for the carriage of goods by sea, the concept of duty of care with respect to collisions, salvage operations, limitations of liability for maritime claims or the particular provisions concerning the liability of the master. Additionally, the IMO is now putting the issue of autonomous ships on the agenda, so the work to review the legal implications of the unmanned vessel on existing international maritime law regulatory framework is underway. However, maritime law appears to be relatively well armed for the introduction of unmanned (either remotely operated or autonomous) merchant ships. Most existing public and private maritime law (and law of the sea) can in principle still be applied. A systematized study of the unmanned ship’s incidence on legal issues (apart from operational ones) is necessary, but it will mean that, as in extraordinary cases takes place, the Law will be ahead of the technology.