Unmanned Machinery Spaces (UMS) Ships — Control and Alarm Requirements

The number of UMS ships has increased rapidly over the past few years. Control systems are much more reliable now than they were when first applied to ships. Educating the crew to understand control functions is now undertaken by most shipowners. More ships will, in future, be fitted with remote-control systems as a means of reducing crews.

Nowadays, however, far more UMS ships are in operation. Crews have grown familiar with the systems and training is more prolific. In the immediate future more owners will adopt UMS, not only as a means of cutting crew to a minimum and thus cut operational costs, but also for reasons of safety.