The introduction of the maritime autonomous surface ship (MASS) to the maritime industry will open up a new era and bring about a new paradigm shift in terms of cost efficiency, maritime accidents, and human resources. Various studies are currently being conducted to realize the MASS. Understanding the scope and direction of these studies will be of great help for future MASS research. In this study, the current development status of technologies for autonomous ships is identified, and considerations and directions of improvement are suggested for six major research fields that cover all technological issues of MASS. Firstly, the results of the regulatory scoping exercise (RSE) on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions to accept MASSs are identified; in particular, human elements are identified as vital issues to be considered for the design and operation of MASSs. Secondly, various studies on the decision-making system are identified, and the future direction is suggested. Thirdly, in terms of ship design and propulsion system, design changes for autonomous cargo ships are investigated, with their potential impacts to be considered. Fourthly, the communication system will need to be robust and supported by multiple systems to minimize potential risk with third-party infrastructures, and suitable protection of systems, networks, and data will be required as an integral part of the safety system for cybersecurity. Fifthly, issues of maintenance and repair are identified, with a maintenance strategy to be considered. Lastly, hazard analysis of the autonomous ship is explored, and system-theoretic process analysis (STPA) and the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) are identified as the most representative new methods that can be used for hazard analysis of autonomous ships.

On 13 April 2018, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) published an initial strategy on reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships. The ambitious vision of this strategy is to reduce the total annual GHG emissions from international shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. One of the solutions to achieve this vision is to operate vessels on alternative marine fuels that generate less or no GHG emissions, like liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethanol, biofuel, synthetic fuel, electricity (produced by battery), and so on. The challenge is that each alternative fuel has its own characteristic on various aspects. For instance, some alternative fuels may generate no GHG emission but can have higher risk than conventional marine fuel. Other alternative fuels may generate no GHG emission with relatively low risk, but the capital and/or operational expenditure can be significantly higher than other fuels. The main objective of this paper is to explore the properties of selected alternative marine fuels and to emphasize the necessity of integrated evaluation of them. It is concluded that the alternative marine fuels need to be comprehensively evaluated with respect to environmental impact, risk to human, and business value.

Commercial fishing, one of the most dangerous sectors globally and, particularly, in South Korea, faces fatal accident rates significantly exceeding other industries, and an urgent improvement in safety measures is necessary to reduce these numbers effectively. The main objective of this study is to analyse fishing vessel accidents in South Korea and present the direction of safety policy for fishing vessels based on the lessons learnt from previous accidents, and, ultimately, to contribute to reduce fishing vessel accidents. For this purpose, we have analysed the marine accident data from the last five years provided by the Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST), the statistical yearbook of oceans and fisheries provided by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), and the statistical survey of marine fisheries provided by the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. After thorough review and analysis of the accident data, we have proposed seven suggestions for the direction of future safety policy for fishing vessels in South Korea: adopt international safety benchmarks, focus on occupational and collision accidents, tailor safety measures to vessel size and age, enhance lookout practices to prevent collisions, implement comprehensive strategies to mitigate human errors, and address communication issues among Korean and international crews.