Smart Ports and Maritime Simulators in the Era of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (opens in a new tab)
The paper critiques the assumption that Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) and port digitalization alone solve maritime transport challenges, arguing risks arise from systemic factors like vessel size, infrastructure limits, and organizational complexity. It emphasizes MASS as part of a broader socio-technical system, requiring smart ports, traffic management, and maritime simulators for safe coexistence with manned vessels. The role of simulators as cyber-physical test beds for validating operations, decision-support systems, and human-automation interaction is highlighted. The authors stress that successful MASS integration depends on managing complexity through predictive coordination, simulation-based validation, and regulatory adaptations, rather than just increasing autonomy.