Summary

Autonomous shipping appears as a promising solution to reducing operational costs and improving logistics on inland waterways. The following research focuses on inland shipping in Zeeland, Netherlands to examine how autonomous shipping can impact logistics chains and be adopted by using inland shipping services in North Sea Port. The Dutch inland shipping industry is facing a sharp decline in skippers as it is no longer an attractive role therefore, an investigation is carried out using industry-wide literature to compare with data and contrast with stakeholders in the region to find what the main drivers of adoption are, which industries will be the most likely to adopt autonomous shipping technologies first and to which extent will the required skills be transferred to an onshore control center. The research is broken down into technical feasibility, economic benefit, and human participation finishing with recommendations and a proposed adoption model from a Zeeland perspective.