The Nippon Foundation MEGURI2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Program Introduced at Meeting of IMO’s Maritime Safety CommitteeMaking solid contribution to creation of rules for autonomous navigation

The Nippon Foundation launched the MEGURI2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Program in February 2020 to address Japanese ship crew shortages and to enhance navigation safety. The project was recently introduced to roughly 250 delegates from around the world at the 109th meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO^*1) Maritime Safety Committee (MSC^*2).

In Stage 1 of the project, autonomous navigation was successfully demonstrated in Tokyo Bay, a congested area with heavy shipping traffic, and on a long-distance route for an extended period of time (more than 12 hours), from January to March 2022.

The knowledge gained during Stage 1 is currently being used with the aim of social implementation on remote island routes on the Seto Inland Sea and for commercial shipping using RoRo vessels to transport fresh milk, agricultural products, and livestock. Four vessels are scheduled to commence demonstration testing from the summer of 2025, with the aim of achieving autonomous navigation for 50% of shipping by 2040 and thereby addressing the social issues of alleviating crew shortages and enhancing navigation safety.

The presentation to the MSC began with an introduction of the project by The Nippon Foundation Executive Director Mitsuyuki Unno, and was followed by updates from representatives of development partners on the project’s current status, technological development, and initiatives for social implementation.

The presentation to the MSC was made during a lunchtime session and was followed by a Q&A session that included questions and lively exchanges of opinions, demonstrating the degree of attention being placed on autonomous navigation in global maritime transport and high level of interest in the project.

Presentation materials

Stage 1: To 2022; the world’s first demonstration of fully autonomous navigation using six vessels

Stage 2: To 2025; MEGURI2040 initiatives toward social implementation

MEGURI2040 project’s contribution to rulemaking

The preparation of rules to ensure safety is indispensable for the widespread adoption of fully autonomous navigation. A regulatory framework (the MASS Code^*3) is also being deliberated at the IMO.

The MEGURI2040 project has been proactively providing information to contribute to domestic and international rulemaking, using the results from the fully autonomous navigation development process and demonstration testing. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also provided data from the world’s first demonstration tests of fully autonomous navigation, carried out using six vessels in 2022, to various countries at the 106th meeting of the MSC, held in 2022. Japan is currently taking the lead in the “navigation chapter,” the most important part of fully autonomous navigation technology.

On October 17, 2024, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez visited the Fleet Operation Center in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, where he was briefed on the project.

Fully autonomous shipping is expected to lead to the resolution of a range of issues including reducing maritime accidents and addressing crew shortages. Using information and communications technologies (ICT) and artificial intelligence (AI), Japan has been using its globally advanced technologies to promote research and development in fully autonomous shipping as a “future industry.” Expectations are particularly high in the marine transport sector as a way of addressing the “2024 problem” in logistics (from newly introduced limits on workers’ overtime), as a focus of attention as a technology that can alleviate shortages of human resources (ship crews) in supply chains.

The Nippon Foundation will continue to work to develop and implement fully autonomous navigation technologies and foster greater social understanding in Japan, to address issues in coastal shipping, which accounts for 40% of Japan’s domestic logistics,^*4 including shortages and the aging of ships crews, and ship accidents.