Autonomous Ships (again)

This is already the case, but it is almost always repair workforce things that have broken. Preventative maintenance is almost exclusively done by the crew and without it, those regular shipyard periods would increase substantially. Say once a year versus once every five.

The realities of the modern shipping industry are that no owner ever wants their vessel to stop for repairs or go off hire. They break even on the purchase of the ship, run her hard, and put her away wet. Repeat until the ship loses its classification and then do it all over again.

I know I’ll get your standard “there are good owners out there” line but from where I sit (engaged in international trade, talking to pilots, riding the bus in and out of terminals talking to other seamen) they are all the same.

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