The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), and MTI Co., Ltd. held a joint workshop in Singapore to advance Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) trials.
This initiative stems from a 2024 Memorandum of Understanding between MPA and NYK focused on accelerating maritime decarbonisation, digitalisation, and manpower development. Over 60 participants attended the workshop, including representatives from MPA, NYK, MTI, and various academic and industry partners such as ClassNK, Japan Radio Co., and several Singapore-based research institutions.
The trials aim to test how autonomous vessels interact with port systems like MPA’s Vessel Traffic Information System, while also helping to develop best practices for safety, navigation, fuel efficiency, AI-based decision-making, and cybersecurity.
Leaders from both MPA and MTI emphasized the significance of the collaboration. MPA’s Capt M. Segar highlighted the value of testing new operational concepts in port waters, while MTI President Hideki Suzuki underscored the importance of the workshop in moving closer to safe and efficient autonomous navigation.
To remind, Lloyd’s Register recently published a report on autonomous shipping, finding a need for rigorous assurance processes to manage the heightened software complexity and autonomous decision-making challenges inherent in MASS. Additionally, the research also underscored the importance of a well-defined Operational Envelope (OE), which extends the ODD by incorporating system-level configurations, state transitions and human-automation task allocation.
