AUTONOMOUS SHIPPING OF THE MARITIME INDUSTRY: NORMATIVE COMPONENT

Abstract

The article is devoted to the formation of a unified regulatory framework in the field of autonomous shipping in the maritime industry at the 21st century. The importance of posing this problem is due to the needs of the modern world economic, political and social components, where participants could freely interact and cooperate in a single maritime space on equal regulatory bases in the field of autonomous shipping. Based on the analysis of information and materials from specialized sources, the peculiarities of technological innovations in the maritime industry, the active implementation of autonomous shipping by global companies, the creation of a regulatory framework and its active integration into a single unified global regulatory framework were analyzed. In addition, the issues of safety and security of autonomous shipping, the issue of its impact on the environment were considered; simplification of international trade procedures; the potential costs to the industry and their impact on maritime personnel both on board and ashore. The need to create a single worldwide unified regulatory framework for autonomous shipping, with the mandatory involvement of specialists from different countries interested in the further development of the industry, is emphasized. The steps taken by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to prepare the International Code of Maritime Autonomous Surface Vessels are analyzed in detail. Completion of work on the document is planned by the end of 2025, and already in 2028, the document will become mandatory for the world community.