Harrington says experts consulted by the Shipowners' Club do not expect large, uncrewed vessels to be commonplace before 2040, given the required changes in international regulations.
However, small, uncrewed craft are already in the water, and this is what the club is commencing with into the autonomous ship market. These specialist craft, known as autonomous surface vessels (ASVs), are less than 24 meters (79 ft) in size. Typically monitored and controlled from a remote location which can be either on another vessel or ashore, these vessels are used to clean up rivers and beaches, as well as to inspect construction sites. So far, the club has not had a single claim on the 80 uncrewed crafts it covers. Their autonomous vessel policy is ‘all risks’ with a limit of up to $500 million and includes cyber insurance.
“Admittedly these are lightweight, low-risk vessels, but because there is no need to have people on board doing these jobs, hazards are obviously reduced. In short, less people equal less claims. As P&I insurers most of our claims are people-related but we haven’t seen any technology failures either,” says Harrington.
Projects are in the pipeline for uncrewed vessels over 24 meters and “there will be a need for P&I cover for even larger vessels in the coming years, which we find very exciting. According to our projections, larger fully automated vessels could potentially result in claims savings of 25 percent and 43 percent in $ incurred,” he adds.
“P&I is a traditional product with a 168-year-old history. Things have changed a lot in that time, but the cover has stayed pretty much the same. It’s exciting to think about what kind of services we need to provide for this new era of vessels. There will be situations we don’t even know about yet and current risks that may be on a different scale.”
But then we are underwriters, so we have to be prepared to take calculated gambles. Many companies rely on us to provide solutions to cover new risks. Risks change and this is just another example of that.”
Benefits must be balanced with risks
Harrington recently outlined some of the benefits and risks of autonomous vessels during a presentation at the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) in Edinburgh. According to him, some of the ways in which uncrewed vessels could reduce risk and enhance safety, are through collision-avoidance technology, real-time weather data, improved data recording and stricter regulatory requirements.
At the same time, he says, these, and many other benefits, should be balanced against just as many potential risks, including technology failures, public perception, cyber-attacks, job losses and fire.
How quickly the autonomous market will develop depends on how much companies can invest in this market and change their practices, as well as how the world will change, says Harrington, noting that ports and infrastructure will have to change to adapt to uncrewed vessels.
“But the P&I industry will need to provide solutions so that people can invest. Investment cannot progress if we don’t provide financial security in the form of insurance. Because this is a new and evolving area, there is a lot we just don’t know, but then P&I has always been reactive in terms of how many claims we get,” he adds.
Something Harrington sees as crucial when it comes to autonomous technology on vessels is communication between the P&I community and the maritime industry.
Many companies rely on us to provide solutions to cover new risks.
“We want to know about your near-misses that don’t result in claims. We are insurers, not technology experts. So as much information as we can get from technology experts the better, and vice versa. Send us questions and details of things that go wrong so we can get a broader indication of what we should be charging and prevent others from suffering the claims you almost had.”
Pricing is all about expanding knowledge
Harrington adds: “When aspects of P&I have changed in the past, the price starts somewhere but over time, and with claims experience, we hope to provide greater stability in pricing, better loss prevention, and the right policy. We’re in touch with a lot of people and we see a lot of publications. The more knowledge we have, the more we can adjust our pricing. What operators of both uncrewed and other vessels want is stability in the premiums and the more we know, the more we can offer that.”
Harrington concedes that uncrewed large oceangoing container ships or tankers “will be way past my underwriting career” and wonders whether uncrewed cruise ships will ever be accepted by the public. “However, we want to be ready and there to provide the insurance, however autonomous technology plays out.”
In the meantime, he is looking forward to the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will offer a glimpse of the autonomous future in the form of an uncrewed electric ferry along the Seine River. This 3-D printed vessel will be used to transport athletes and visitors from around the world. As Harrington says, “the autonomous market is only ever going to grow."
Spearheading the emerging autonomous market
Kalevi Tervo, Global Program Manager at ABB Marine and Ports, agrees. “Although we may have to wait a long time for autonomous ocean liners, autonomous technologies are already being applied in various ways on these large vessels.”
“For example, safety is being increased and risks reduced with systems that use autonomous technology in one way or another, such as automatic braking assistance (crash stop) and advanced automatic maneuvering control. Then there are collision avoidance, docking and lookout assistance systems also in use.
So, in practice, in addition to actual autonomous (short-distance) ships, these systems are spearheading the emerging autonomous market up to level 3, ie, conditional automation, according to the levels of automation defined by One Sea. It's exciting to see how the market will develop.”
Images:
Innovation Origins - MidJourney
One Sea Association
