Editor's Choice
IMO Sets Global Rules for Autonomous Ships — What It Means for Nigeria’s Waterways
IMO Sets Global Rules for Autonomous Ships — What It Means for Nigeria’s Waterways
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News Reporter
The global shipping community reached a significant milestone last week as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) formally adopted the world’s first international regulatory framework for autonomous commercial vessels — a development that carries direct implications for Nigeria’s growing interest in technology-driven waterway transportation.
The new instrument, known as the International Code of Safety for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS Code), was approved during the 111th session of the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee, held in London from May 13 to 22. The committee adopted a global code for autonomous ships and advanced guidelines for ships operating on alternative fuels.. This represents the clearest signal yet that self-navigating and remotely operated vessels are no longer a distant concept but an emerging reality that global regulators must now govern.
For Nigeria — a country with approximately 10,000 kilometres of navigable inland waterways and a Federal Government increasingly focused on the Blue Economy — the development is one to watch closely.
A Framework for the Future
The MASS Code defines four distinct levels of vessel automation, beginning with ships fitted with computerised decision-support tools and extending all the way to fully autonomous vessels capable of making operational choices without any direct human control. Each level carries its own set of safety, accountability and communications obligations.
The code addresses a wide range of technical concerns, including cybersecurity vulnerabilities, remote communications infrastructure, navigation systems, fire safety, cargo handling, machinery management, watchkeeping standards and search-and-rescue responsibilities during autonomous operations.
Among the more complex questions the IMO grappled with in developing the framework were who legally qualifies as the “master” of a vessel during autonomous operations, the duties of remote operators stationed onshore, and how liability would be apportioned in the event of incidents involving machine-driven decision-making — issues that no existing international maritime law had adequately resolved.
Nigeria and the Technology Conversation
As Nigerian authorities continue to modernise the country’s waterway sector, the emergence of an internationally recognised autonomous vessel framework creates both opportunities and responsibilities. Nigeria has previously received unmanned vessel technology through international partnerships, and there is growing discussion about digitalisation across the country’s ports and ferry services. The MASS Code now provides a formal global reference point against which any domestic deployment of autonomous or remotely operated vessels would need to be assessed.
Phased Implementation
The code will not immediately become binding. The IMO has structured a phased approach, beginning with a voluntary experience-building phase later in 2026 to collect operational data from real-world deployments around the world. Work on a mandatory version of the code is expected to commence in 2028, with adoption targeted for 2030 and the regulations set to enter into force in January 2032.
This timeline offers Nigerian regulators and stakeholders a window to study the framework, participate in international consultations, and begin aligning domestic policy where necessary — particularly given Nigeria’s ambition to develop its inland waterway corridors as commercial and passenger transport routes.
Broader Safety Agenda
Beyond autonomous shipping, the Maritime Safety Committee’s 111th session also addressed growing security concerns in the Strait of Hormuz, greenhouse gas safety standards linked to alternative marine fuels, and updated technical regulations for vessels powered by hydrogen and ammonia. The meeting signals that the IMO’s regulatory agenda is accelerating across multiple fronts, and Nigeria’s maritime and waterways agencies will need to stay engaged at the international level to ensure the country’s interests are reflected as these frameworks continue to evolve.
🇳🇬 NIGERIA WATCH Tracking the story across Ministries, Departments and Agencies
Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy As the supervising ministry for Nigeria’s entire maritime and waterways sector, the FMMBE carries the primary responsibility for interpreting the MASS Code and determining how it aligns with Nigeria’s Blue Economy roadmap. The ministry will need to initiate a policy review that positions Nigeria to participate actively in the IMO’s experience-building phase beginning later in 2026, and to begin preparing a domestic regulatory position ahead of the mandatory code expected by 2030. Nigeria’s ongoing campaign for a seat on the IMO Council makes early and visible engagement with this framework a matter of both policy and diplomatic credibility.
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) As Nigeria’s flag state administration and the body directly interfacing with the IMO, NIMASA is the agency most immediately affected by the MASS Code. The agency will be expected to review Nigeria’s Ship Safety framework to determine how existing regulations governing vessel certification, inspection and crew standards apply — or fail to apply — to autonomous and remotely operated vessels. NIMASA will also need to develop a clear stance on the liability and manning questions the MASS Code raises, particularly around the definition of “master” in autonomous operations and the regulatory status of remote operators.
National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) NIWA governs Nigeria’s vast inland waterway network — the very environment where autonomous and remotely operated vessels are most likely to be used domestically, given the shorter route distances involved. The authority must begin assessing its existing licensing and inspection frameworks to determine whether they are adequate for vessels operating with reduced or no crew. NIWA’s ongoing digitalisation efforts and its Nigeria Water Transportation Code provide a useful foundation, but autonomous vessel operations will require new thinking around remote monitoring, jetty infrastructure compatibility and waterway traffic management.
Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) As the busiest waterway state agency in Nigeria, managing one of Africa’s most active urban ferry networks, LASWA has a direct interest in how autonomous vessel technology could eventually be applied to Lagos’s water transportation system. The authority should be tracking the MASS Code closely, given ongoing conversations around modernising the Lagos ferry fleet and reducing accident rates. Any future introduction of remotely operated ferries on Lagos waterways would fall within the regulatory scope that the MASS Code is now beginning to define globally.
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Port operations are explicitly addressed within the MASS Code, raising questions about how autonomous vessels arriving at or departing from Nigerian ports would be handled in terms of berthing, pilotage, and port state control inspections. The NPA will need to consider whether its port infrastructure, communications systems and operational protocols are compatible with vessels that may have no crew aboard or may be operated remotely from a distant control centre.
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) The arrival of autonomous cargo vessels at Nigerian ports raises important questions for customs operations — specifically around vessel boarding, documentation verification, and the chain of responsibility for goods carried on crewless ships. The NCS will need to engage with NIMASA and the NPA to develop a joint position on how existing customs boarding and inspection procedures would be adapted for autonomous vessel operations.
Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) / Nigerian Navy The MASS Code’s attention to cybersecurity is particularly significant from a national security perspective. Autonomous vessels operating in Nigerian waters — whether coastal or inland — represent a potential vulnerability if their remote control systems are compromised. The Nigerian Navy and ONSA should be part of any inter-agency working group established to develop Nigeria’s domestic response to the MASS Code, with specific attention to the cybersecurity and sovereignty dimensions of remotely operated vessels in Nigeria’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Autonomous vessels are entirely dependent on robust, low-latency communications infrastructure for remote operation and real-time monitoring. The ministry’s work on expanding broadband connectivity — including to coastal and riverine communities — is therefore directly relevant to whether autonomous vessel technology can practically function in Nigerian waters. A policy conversation between this ministry and the FMMBE has yet to happen publicly; the MASS Code makes it necessary.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) As the agency responsible for regulating and developing Nigeria’s digital ecosystem, NITDA has a role to play in establishing cybersecurity standards for maritime technology systems. The MASS Code’s strong emphasis on cybersecurity for autonomous vessels means that NITDA’s frameworks will need to be extended explicitly to cover maritime digital infrastructure, particularly remote vessel control systems.
Waterways News | waterwaysnews.ng
Nigeria’s Port Boom Is Outpacing Its Capacity, Dantsoho Tells World Ports Conference
Dantsoho Pitches Nigeria’s Ports to Global Investors in London, Says Lekki’s Capacity Is Exhausted
By Emamuzou Akatugba | Waterways News | London
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has told global port investors that Nigeria’s fast-growing cargo volumes make the country’s ports one of Africa’s most compelling investment opportunities. He said the Tinubu administration has put investor-friendly policies in place.
Dantsoho spoke on Tuesday at the IAPH World Ports Conference in London, which runs from November 3 to 6 at Olympia. He addressed a select group of maritime investors. He is Vice-President of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) and Chairman of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA).
He said Nigeria’s population, rapid urbanisation and infrastructure gaps are what make the opportunity attractive. He argued that governments across Africa cannot alone fund bigger and deeper seaports, so private investment must move in quickly.
“The investment needed in ports to meet this expansion and growth can only happen if the requisite private investment is attracted and retained,” he said. He added that President Tinubu “has created the enabling atmosphere” for this
Dantsoho said Nigeria’s population has grown from about 45 million at independence in 1960 to over 260 million. In his words, the country needs capacity to receive bigger import vessels and to move higher export volumes.
His strongest example was the Lekki Deep Sea Port. It was funded with Chinese backing and built by China Harbour at a cost of $1.6 billion. He said it was commissioned only about three years ago, yet its capacity “has been exhausted”.
“Clearly, we need more capacity to be able to contain the volumes,” he said. He added that the NPA is pleased to be capturing more cargo, since rising volumes are what lift port revenue.
He also said most cargo arriving in West Africa, largely from China, ends up in the Nigerian market. He compared Nigeria’s population with Ghana (34 million), Côte d’Ivoire (32 million), Benin Republic (14 million) and Togo (9 million).
Other reports from the conference quote Dantsoho saying federal reforms have lifted Nigeria’s exports by about 25 per cent in two years, across oil and non-oil goods. He reportedly also cited two Nigerian ports in the World Bank’s top 20 global rankings, and a Single Window system the NPA developed in 2025 with a Singaporean firm.
NIGERIA WATCH
Capacity is now the story. A $1.6bn flagship port that is already full is the clearest sign yet that Nigeria’s problem has moved from attracting ships to handling them. It strengthens the case for the new deep seaport approvals (Badagry, Olokola, Ibom, Bakassi and Bonny) that have so far been announced faster than they have been built. Investors in London will want timelines, not just approvals.
Retaining investors is harder than attracting them. Dantsoho himself used the phrase “attracted and retained”. Concession renewal anxieties, regulatory overlap among agencies, and the Strait of Hormuz crisis’s effect on freight rates and war-risk insurance all weigh on retention. These are the questions investors will ask after the speech.
Where do the small operators fit? The pitch is about big terminals and big capital. Informal inland waterway operators, represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, remain absent from the conversation.
Waterways News will keep asking how port-led growth and the NPA’s assessment of inland dry ports will translate into jetties, safety and livelihoods for the informal inland waterway operators.
Nigeria Unveils Home-Built ADX-Barra 200 Autonomous Vessel at AFRIDEX 2026
Arridex, DICON joint venture Helagon delivers country’s first indigenously developed unmanned surface vessels%
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
Nigeria has unveiled its first indigenously developed autonomous surface vessel, the ADX-Barra 200. Arridex Group, formerly RusselSmith Group, built it through Helagon, its defence joint venture with the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON).
The vessel was unveiled on 26 October at the inaugural Africa International Defence Exhibition (AFRIDEX 2026) at Eko Atlantic, Lagos. The exhibition ran from 26 to 29 October.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. He said the administration prioritises defence industry growth because a nation is more secure when it can build and maintain its own capability. He described the vessel as that capability taking shape, designed and built by local engineers in partnership with DICON, and said it deserves government support and the confidence of the armed forces.
ADX-Barra 200
Arridex Group CEO Kayode Adeleke presented the vessel. He said Helagon was set up to design autonomous systems and that the ADX-Barra 200 is the result. For the forces that will use it, he called it a force multiplier.
The ADX-Barra 200 is one of two platforms in the ADX-Barra series launched at the exhibition. The other is the ADX-Barra 100. Arridex says both were designed, built and integrated in Nigeria by its engineers.
Adeleke tied the platforms to Gulf of Guinea security. He said the region’s waters carry its trade, support its coastal communities and hold much of its energy wealth, and that protecting them calls for capability the region can build, sustain and improve itself. He invited the armed services and other stakeholders to arrange demonstrations and to help shape later generations of the vessels.
Others at the unveiling included Lagos State Deputy Governor Dr Obafemi Hamzat and the Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Matawalle. DICON Director-General Major General Babatunde Ibrahim Alaya, Helagon Chief Operating Officer Engr. Precious Omo-Agege and Arridex senior management were also present.
Arridex has not published the vessel’s technical specifications, including its length, endurance, payload and sensors. Both vessels remained on display at the exhibition.
NIGERIA WATCH
A home-built answer to a long-standing maritime problem: Nigeria’s waters have long needed more patrol capacity than its platforms and budgets can supply. A locally designed vessel that “can be supported, adapted and improved by the team that made it,” as Arridex puts it, addresses one persistent weakness. Imported hulls and systems often sit idle for want of spares, support and trained hands.
The questions that matter next: Unveilings are not deployments. The Navy, NIMASA’s Deep Blue Project and other agencies will want to know the vessel’s range, endurance, sensors and sea-state limits. They will also want to know whether it can work in the Gulf of Guinea. Until Arridex publishes specifications and arranges trials, the “game-changing” claim remains the company’s own.
Beyond defence: Waterways News readers should watch whether this technology filters into civil uses such as inland waterway surveillance, anti-vandalism patrols and search and rescue. The country’s inland operators, including those represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, face insecurity and safety gaps that policy announcements have not closed. Local manufacturing capacity matters to them only if it eventually reaches the waterways where they work.
The accountability test: The industrial-policy argument is sound. It is build locally and maintain locally. It will be judged by procurement, deployment and sustained operation, not by launch-day speeches.
Editor's Choice
Australia Bars Repeat-Offender Bulk Carrier for 90 Days Over Falsified Crew Rest Records
Australia Bars Repeat-Offender Bulk Carrier for 90 Days Over Falsified Crew Rest Records
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Australian maritime authorities have banned the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Wooyang Venus from its ports and waters for 90 days. Inspectors found that the ship’s crew work and rest-hour records had been deliberately falsified to hide excessive working hours.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) boarded the vessel at the Port of Newcastle on 29 October after a complaint under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). Its port state control inspection found that the records did not match the hours the crew actually worked. The ship left Newcastle on 31 October for Korea, and the ban took effect afterwards.
This is the vessel’s third brush with Australian enforcement in under three years. AMSA detained it in August 2026 when crew hours were neither properly recorded nor monitored. It was first detained in December 2023, after a complaint from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
That inspection found falsified hours records, poor food provisions and an allegation that the master had assaulted a crew member. AMSA’s annual MLC report says the operator then submitted a corrective action plan covering repatriation, better provisions and training on rest-hour compliance. The latest findings suggest those measures did not take hold.
AMSA Executive Director for Maritime Safety and Environmental Compliance, Greg Witherall, said falsifying records meant to protect seafarers undermines both crew welfare and ship safety. He warned that fatigue dulls judgement and slows reaction times, raising the risk of collisions, groundings and injuries, particularly during navigation and watchkeeping.
The ban was imposed under Section 246 of Australia’s Navigation Act 2012. AMSA cited the deliberate falsification, the repeated breaches and doubts over the effectiveness of the owner’s and operator’s safety management systems.
Nigeria Watch
The case matters for Nigeria for three reasons:
Records are the enforcement tool. Fatigue rules only work if rest-hour logs can be trusted. Australia treated falsification as a safety-system failure, not a paperwork lapse, and banned the ship rather than detaining it again.
Repeat offenders need escalating penalties. Two detentions and a corrective plan did not change this operator’s behaviour. Nigerian port state control should ask whether its own follow-up on repeat deficiencies has real consequences.
Seafarer welfare is a Nigerian issue. Nigerian seafarers serve on foreign-flagged ships, and those working boats and ferries on domestic waters face fatigue and welfare gaps too, often with no records at all.
The MLC regime Australia is enforcing shows what accountability looks like. It is the benchmark NIMASA and the inland regulators should be measured against, and one this publication will keep pressing.
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