해상운송법제상 상업용 무인선박의 법적 지위에 관한 연구

Major shipping countries including the U.K. have selected and fostered the development and utilization of the unmanned ship technology as the future growth engine for the countries concerned. The development and utilization of unmanned vessel technology can be a powerful measure to significantly reduce sea risk, as well as a countermeasure to the worldwide shortage of crew members. As a global power in the shipping industry and the shipbuilding industry, the development and utilization of unmanned ship technology must be prepared and the legislation related to the operation of unmanned ships should be readjusted at the same time, in order to maintain such an international industrial status and prepare for the advent of unmanned ships. Meanwhile, unmanned ships are still constantly changing and developing with the development of artificial intelligence and the ICT technology. However, the unmanned vessel calls for a full revision of the existing Maritime Transport Law, which stipulates ships and sailors as a prerequisite for discussion, in that it excludes human factors such as crew members, which have been considered essential to ship operation since the ancient times. In particular, the remote-controlled unmanned vessel is expected to be a form of operation of unmanned ships before the full-scale introduction of self-driving unmanned ships. Unlike sailors who work on board a ship, remote operators are in a key position in securing the operation and safety of the ship. Therefore, the tasks of remote operators have essentially similar aspects to those of existing ship captains and sailors. This is likely to cause a variety of legal problems with respect to the legal status of a remote operator of the unmanned vessel. In particular, a lot of controversy is expected regarding the issue of securing the duty of the carrier to make the vessel sea-worthy and the interpretation and application of the limitation of liability and exemption of liability for the carrier. Fully autonomous vessels are ships in the form of which human factors are almost excluded from the operation of ships. Therefore, various legal issues are expected to be raised in the application of relevant laws, such as whether the fully autonomous ship can be regarded as the ship for application of maritime safety acts, the carrier's obligation of providing a vessel having sea-worthiness capability, and so on. However, maritime transport using unmanned ships is at odds with the main laws of the existing admiralty and maritime laws and marine insurance laws on the one hand, but on the other hand, the interpretation of those laws makes it fully acceptable to the existing legal system. Accordingly, due to the evolution of technology development and utilization measures related to unmanned ships, legislative readjustment should be made properly. It is expected that the common use of unmanned ships and the readjustment of the legislation will result in various academic opinions on relevant legal issues and accumulation of cases.