A pioneering study of third-party liability insurance for unmanned/autonomous commercial ships

Abstract

The technologies needed to operate unmanned/autonomous merchant ships already exist, though they are still in need of further refinement and fine-tuning. Shipping evolution always brings with it changes and new risks. The operations of unmanned/autonomous commercial ships may therefore impact on the regime of third-party liability insurance, which provides cover for various kinds of maritime liabilities currently either imposed by law or voluntarily undertaken under the terms of the contract. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the changes and potential risks associated with unmanned/autonomous ships of different levels of autonomy. It is also important to consider the new changes and potential risks from the perspective of P&I insurance, and examine the core elements of liability insurance for unmanned/autonomous ships, including their legality and seaworthiness/classification. After thoroughly investigating insurance for different liabilities, including collision liability, cargo liability and pollution liability, it is concluded that, although there will be unavoidable challenges, the introduction of unmanned/autonomous merchant ships will not, however, result in any significant impact on liability insurance practice.