The superyacht industry needs to wake up to remote operations

The superyacht industry needs to wake up to remote operations

In May this year, the IMO released its new MASS (Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships) code, which outlines a period of experience building and information gathering until 2030, when mandatory rules regarding Remote and Autonomous (R&A) technology should be applied.

The following month, a 24-metre vessel, Reach Remote 1, owned by a Norwegian offshore energy company, docked in the UK. The vessel was completely crewless and performed the entire operation via a remote operations centre (ROC) based in Norway.

Autonomous technology involves a vessel ‘controlling’ itself and making its own decisions about collision avoidance, or assessing obstacles and sea states, based on enormous amounts of data and algorithmic analysis.

This case highlights the situation with R&A tech today. Rules and regulations are struggling to catch up with the impressive strides that have already taken place and the incredible capabilities that are being developed. As one senior figure in the business put it to me, the building blocks are in place; the main thing now is integration.

There is now a constellation of firms creating these building blocks for the maritime world, such as Orca AI, which specialises in situational awareness—ie, using high-powered cameras and data feeds to the bridge to enable R&A operation. A similar company, SEA AI, explicitly offers solutions for superyachts.

What, however, does this have to do with the superyacht world? After all, the superyacht experience is as much about the service as the technology. It is highly unlikely that a superyacht client or guest would want to walk onboard a fully automated, crewless superyacht and cruise from Antibes to Sardinia without a captain or a chef. At least for now.

It is also the case that a vessel carrying passengers should have crew on hand in the event of an emergency.

But where advanced superyacht operators and technicians may wish to take a look at what is happening in the commercial maritime industry is in applications such as moving some crew to shore.

In late 2025, Kongsberg Maritime, one of the leaders in the push for R&A technology, received approval in principle from DNV to move the chief engineer from ship to shore, meaning that the chief engineer could now monitor and adjust equipment entirely from an ROC. This was in connection with a project using a small cargo ship. Could a superyacht be far behind?

What it could mean in practice is that a chief engineer could be based ashore, monitoring more than one superyacht.

The upfront costs are considerable, of course. But the payoff that the commercial maritime industry sees is manifold.

Fewer crew means lower hotel load requirements, which translates to less energy consumption. Fewer crew also means more internal volume dedicated to other purposes, such as storage or, more likely, additional battery capacity.

One of the great challenges of superyacht ownership and operation is crewing. Imagine a superyacht builder with an ROC dedicated to its own vessels. It would allow key personnel to work ashore, making recruitment much easier.

Certainly, there are limits. With today’s technology, a superyacht operating in the Med could easily be piloted from an ROC, but navigating legal issues and liability still remains to be sorted out. At the moment, the situation can only be described as ad hoc. Moreover, superyacht captains are regarded as a key part of the superyacht experience.

But the design and HR benefits are such that the superyacht industry should be looking into R&A solutions now.