Regulatory Requirements on the Competence of Remote Operator in Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship: Situation Awareness, Ship Sense and Goal-Based Gap Analysis

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) has been developed recently, and demonstration projects have been carried out internationally. Considering the full autonomous level is unlikely to be addressed shortly, remote control centre and Remote Operator (RO) will play a vital role in the MASS system. Although competence of watchkeeping at the ship’s bridge is inevitable for RO to avoid ship accidents caused by human errors, international requirements have not been introduced yet. This paper presents a way to develop the regulatory framework on the competence of RO based on the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) by exploring the concept of Situation Awareness (SA). Goal-Based Gap Analysis (GBGA) is constructed based on the human-behaviour model and the required information for SA. A case study through the mini focus group discussion with interviews by a total of three (3) veteran instructors of training ships is conducted utilising the information including the results of previous demonstration projects on the remote control. The results show the relationship between required information and ship sense, shortage of these factors when RO is operating, additional competence and possible regulatory requirements for RO. The findings support the usefulness of GBGA and pave the way to develop a regulatory framework for RO further

Identification of the Relationship between Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships and the Operator’s Mental Workload

Shipping is an indispensable tool for the sustainable global supply chain, and seafarers play a key role in safe navigation. Maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) have been expected to reduce marine accidents by human error of the seafarers. On the other hand, MASS may have adverse effects on operators’ mental workload (MWL) and increase safety risks in some cases. This research aims to provide a scheme for identifying the relationship between MWL and MASS in the maritime that can be utilised for rulemaking and technological development. The provided scheme identifies the factors that affect the MWL of operators and sub-elements of MWL through gap analysis. Five factors related to MASS operation were defined, in addition to general factors. The case study was carried out by utilising the scheme on typical cases focusing on the normal navigational situation. The NASA task load index method was used to measure MWL. Ten deck officers with various ranks, including the third officer and captain, participated in the case study. The results suggested that various causes such as conflicted situations, machine–human interfaces, mechanical-style movements of the ship, reliability of MASS, and visibility constraints affect the MWL of operators. It also confirmed the verification of the identification scheme