2023 年 8 巻 2 号 p. 33-43
In Japan Marine Accident Inquiries, the phrase “innocuous passing” is used as a fixed phrase. However, among the accidents that were judged to be “innocuous passing” by Japan marine accident inquiries, some were found to be “innocuous passing” in proximity to larger vessels. As development and demonstration tests of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) proceed, there is concern that the emergence of autonomous vessels that operate on numerical algorithms may be affected if there are ambiguities, such as “innocuous passing,”, that are not specified in COLREGs. The survey on the distance at which a Japan Marine Accident Tribunal judges a case to be “innocuous passing” shows a trend in wide water areas. In addition, comparison with overseas judgments also clarified the difference between “safe passing distance” and “innocuous passing”. In the future, we believe that active discussions need to take place to provide general guidelines regarding concepts not mentioned in COLREGs, such as “innocuous passing”.
