On 10 May 2024, Norway joined the UK, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands in an expanded MoU on Cooperation Regarding the International Operation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships MASS, which supersedes a previous MoU on Cooperation Regarding the International Operation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships MASS signed by the UK, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands (i.e. without Norway) on 27 November 2023 – itself superseding a smaller MoU (i.e. without the Netherlands) signed on 13 September 2023. The 2024 edition of the MoU is not currently available, but no reported differences from the 2023 MoUs (beyond the expanded Signatories) are reported in the press release. The MoU provides “[t]he current Signatories of this Memorandum, after due diligence and agreement, would welcome other North Sea countries to join as new Signatories”.
The MoU is “intended to encourage and facilitate collaboration between the Signatories on the international operations of MASS and other autonomous vessels, including non-SOLAS size MASS in the North Sea”. The context explicitly notes that the MoU is to foster opportunities to safely support open-sea operation, tests and trials of MASS in different maritime environments, including the EEZ and on the high seas.
De Maribus 