The Belgian autonomous vessel will have access to British and Danish waters
agreement was reached
Belgium, Denmark and the UK have signed an agreement to facilitate autonomous shipping between the three countries.
Koen Mortelmans
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Since 1 July 2021, Belgium, one of the first countries in the world, has had a legal framework for a pilot project with autonomous vessels in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Sixteen projects have been approved for this purpose. Agreements with Denmark and England make it easier for these ships to cross Belgium’s maritime borders.
In June this year, Belgian Federal Minister for the North Sea Vincent Van Quickenborne and British Minister Charlotte Vere discussed facilitating autonomous shipping in the context of greater maritime cooperation. They played a pioneering role in this, and Denmark later joined.
In the near future, Belgian autonomous vessels will not only be allowed to sail in Belgian maritime waters, but will also be allowed to cross borders, without having to apply for two or three separate permits separately. The administration handling the application will put it together and request the necessary information and documents from the applicant.
The agreement is a statement of intent. Experts from the three countries will sit together to apply what is explained in practice. The Belgian government has not yet been able to determine what exactly will be required to sail in Danish and British waters, but this will happen in the future. The exact timeframe will depend on how different the procedures you want to align are.
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