A study on the development and trend of COLREGs – A broader perspective

With the rapid development of the maritime industry and the emergence of unmanned ships, it is necessary to continuously review the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (1972, COLREGs). This paper provides an overview of the developing history of the COLREGs and summarises the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of navigation Vol. 76; no. 4-5; pp. 577 - 589
Main Authors Dong, Wenhai, Li, Jie, Tu, Xinghua
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.07.2023
Subjects
Collision avoidance
Collisions
International regulations
Maritime industry
Revisions
Ships
Unmanned vehicles
development and trend
COLREGs
interpretation and application
revision
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Summary:With the rapid development of the maritime industry and the emergence of unmanned ships, it is necessary to continuously review the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (1972, COLREGs). This paper provides an overview of the developing history of the COLREGs and summarises the interpretations made by the International Maritime Organization official and academic scholars. Additionally, the paper discusses the application of the COLREGs in collision avoidance geometry and autonomous collision avoidance systems. Furthermore, the necessity and key points of revisions to adapt to industry advancements are discussed, along with an analysis of the main challenges faced. Finally, in light of the continuous progress and implementation of the outcome of the Regulatory Scoping Exercise for the Use of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), the paper points out that achieving consistency between manned and unmanned vessels, as well as developing COLREGs-based autonomous collision avoidance systems for more complex scenarios, is expected to be a significant trend in the future.
ISSN:0373-4633
1469-7785
DOI:10.1017/S0373463323000279