ABS and Partners to Develop Conditional Unmanned Bridge Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. June 16, 2026 (L to R): Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer; HunHee Lee, HD HHI Senior Engineer; DoHoon Kim, Polaris Shipping Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Jaeho Kang, Avikus CEO at Posidonia 2026 (Source: ABS) ABS, Polaris Shipping, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and autonomous navigation solutions provider AVIKUS have signed a four-party Concept Study Agreement for the implementation of a Conditional Unmanned Bridge. Under the agreement, the parties will jointly develop an autonomous navigation concept enabling unmanned bridge operation during deep-sea voyages, when defined conditions are met, on one of Polaris Shipping's 325K Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOCs). The concept is not a fully unmanned operation across the entire voyage. Rather, it is a phased autonomous navigation concept under which the bridge is left unmanned only under specific low-risk conditions, such as open-ocean passage. In line with the development of the IMO Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) Code, the concept is widely regarded across the industry as the most realistic form of autonomous shipping to be deployed in the near term. Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, said: “The technical complexity of the concept lies not in any single system, but in the interactions between autonomous navigation, vessel design and the conditions during unmanned bridge periods. ABS will apply a structured safety evaluation, drawing on hazard identification, functional safety analysis, and alignment with the IMO MASS Code, to get a clear, evidence-based picture of the unmanned bridge concept.” DoHoon Kim, COO of Polaris Shipping said: “The 325K VLOC, with its high proportion of open-ocean voyages, is a suitable target for the unmanned bridge concept," adding, "We plan to use real operational data to quantitatively define the