EVALUATION OF THE DRAFT COMPETENCE STANDARDS FOR REMOTE-CONTROL VESSEL OPERATORS AND THEIR FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION IN MARITIME EDUCATION

The application and advancement of remote control and autonomous functions in the shipping business has already begun and will increase in the coming years. Remote control functions can be defined as such functions that allow a human operator, while being in a land-based location, to monitor and remotely exercise control over the operations of a given vessel. Currently, there are no IMO instruments that regulate the commercial remotecontrolled vessels, nor the technical requirements behind this concept. A safety framework will be necessary to standardize the requirements for unmanned vessels or those with reduced crew. To achieve vessel operation at an equivalent level of safety, remote-control operators must have appropriate competences. However, competence standards for operators have not yet been developed and standardized. The aim of this article is to research and evaluate the progress of various organizations to prepare draft competence standards for supervisors and remotecontrol operators for maritime and inland navigation and how these standards can be implemented in maritime education. The research methodology employed in this study involved a thorough document analysis of relevant industry reports, guidelines, and documents.