# Costs and Benefits of Autonomous Shipping--A Literature Review
## 3 Results
### Basic Costs of Operating Autonomous Slips
#### 3.2.2 Container Vessel  
Currently, investment projects dedicated to autonomous container short-sea shipping are subjects of growing interest, mainly due to the continuously growing volume of container transport [46]. One of the projects related to autonomous container ships is the ReVolt, where a concept vessel designed by DNV GL along with its model have been developed [17]. Additionally, individual case studies are present in the literature [42].  
The reduction of crew, thus, the living quarters, is expected to lower the capital costs of a small container ship feeder by 5% [47], which will also enable the ship to carry more containers on-board, as the ship is expected to gain up to 20% container slots [17]. Moreover, the removal of the superstructure may lead to lower port fees and, hence, decreased voyage costs [42]. Moreover, there are various modes of ship operation affecting the anticipated costs and benefits. One reads the ship will operate with the speed of 6 knots and a range of 100 nautical miles, while another claims the speed of 16 knots and an operational range of 2000 nm. In addition, the carrying capacity ranges from 100 TEU to 600 TEU. It is claimed that the autonomous feeder vessel compared to the conventional one generates savings USD 34 million during 30 years of operation. Thus, it is implied that the economic viability ceases to exist after that time of service [17]. However, the studies of 600 TEU autonomous container feeder reveal that this period is shorter by 10 years [42]. The exact figures could only be determined once actual economic data is available, especially when taking into account the costs induced and the technological development.  
Among the operating costs, the one burdened with significant uncertainty are related to the insurance, as the risk level of autonomous ships remain largely unknown to date. This, in turn, may hamper the development of autonomous ships [5,48]. The level of insurance fees may be dictated by the evidence regarding reduced risk [17].  
The introduction of autonomous ships in navigation implies increased use of sensors. DNV-GL claims that the average number of sensors will be between 15,000 to 20,000 on-board the ship to monitor the safety-critical and other relevant systems [17]. The average cost of the sensor is estimated as USD 0.38 (compared to 2004, the cost was estimated at USD 1.30 level) [49]. In addition, the redundancies on the ship will be a necessity [50]. To ensure safe and efficient operations, it is postulated to at least duplicate safety-critical systems including communication and navigation, as well as power supply [9,51,52]. This move will lead to the higher costs of investments and operations [53].  
Recently, it can be observed that the attractiveness of seafaring is declining and crewing can become more cost-consuming [54]. In case of autonomous ships, the Shore Control Centre is expected to require the personnel of two certified officers per shift [42]. The extent of increase in communication costs remains unclear. However, it varies from a 10% increase--[47]--up to a tenfold raise in comparison to conventional vessels (26k USD/year/ship) [42]. Clearly, this is another significant source of uncertainty.  
The summary of factors discussed for the autonomous bulk carriers (Section 3.2.1.) and container vessels (Section 3.2.2.) is given in Figure 2.  
However, the estimates may change dramatically, depending on the operation mode the given autonomous ship is involved in, especially if a liner shipping network design concept is applied as discussed in Section 3.3.