FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin Last week, a milestone was reached at the Prinses Margriethaven on Maasvlakte 2 in Rotterdam as an unmanned surface vessel (USV) was allowed to sail in open Dutch waters for the first time. Normally, Dutch law (Binnenvaartpolitiereglement – BPR) requires all vessels to have a crew on board. But due to a legal change in April 2025, exemptions can now be granted under certain conditions. For this trial, Harbour Master René de Vries approved the first-ever exemption, allowing the test to go ahead. The trial involved the V3000 USV from Demcon Unmanned Systems, which sailed autonomously while being monitored by a manned vessel from the Port of Rotterdam Authority. RelatedNews Netherlands adopts electronic bills of lading legislation Rotterdam begins expansion for methanol and ethanol facilities var jnews_module_21352663_0_6a025c98ac608 = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related","second_title":"News","url":"","header_type":"heading_8","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_post_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_tribe_events_cat":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_category":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","sticky_post":false,"sticky_post_filter":false,"post_type":"post","content_type":"all","sponsor":false,"number_post":"2","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"unique1","include_post":"","included_only":false,"exclude_post":"21352663","include_category":"","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"344,868,3199","exclude_tag":"","exclude_visited_post":false,"post_tag":"","tribe_events_cat":"","web_story_category":"","web_story_tag":"","sort_by":"latest","show_date":"","date_format":"default","date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","pagination_mode":"disable","pagination_nextprev_showtext":"","pagination_number_post":"2","pagination_scrol