Autonomy is not a goal in itself, but a means to other important goals such as increased safety and reduced emissions. It must also be commercially viable.
Not everyone is convinced about the idea of autonomous ships, even if the technology probably already exists to make it happen with a number of successful tests already held.
Columbia Shipmanagement chief executive Mark O’Neil said in a Capital Link discussion on digitalisation: “The question is how much autonomy do we actually need? So much of this is the tail wagging the dog.”
