Remote operation of ships is a fundamental concept for the introduction of autonomous shipping. The legal challenges associated with remote operation, despite their crucial importance for the transformation of shipping, have so far received relatively limited attention. The remote operator’s role and responsibilities can be seen as key issues in this context and are discussed and highlighted in this article. A crucial question to clarify from a legal perspective is who or which actor the term remote operator aims at. Also, which tasks and duties do remote operation involve and how does the distribution of these responsibilities look like between different people involved in the operation of a remotely operated ship? Another closely related question in this context is which requirements of competence, skills and training are necessary or relevant for remote operation of a vessel from a remote operation center.

These questions are discussed and analysed below. A summary conclusion of the authors is that the introduction of autonomous shipping and remote operation will require a new kind of role set-up and division of labor between the various actors within the shipping industry. This may necessitate the introduction of new legal actors. Also, the legal challenges and the resulting uncertainty need to be addressed at the national level to remove or reduce obstacles to the industry’s development. Thus, a regulatory review is necessary to achieve this purpose.