Technologies, Systems, and Future Challenges in Maritime Autonomy and Smart Ports

Dear Colleagues,

Autonomous shipping is changing traditional approaches to navigation, fleet management, and interactions between ships and port infrastructure. At the same time, smart ports play a key role in supporting autonomous ships by enabling digital coordination, real-time data exchange, automated logistics processes, and optimized resource use. Given these challenges and opportunities, scientific research in this field is extremely relevant and important for the future of maritime transport. We are pleased to invite researchers, engineers, and practitioners to submit their work to this Special Issue, which is dedicated to autonomous shipping and smart ports.

This Special Issue aims to present current scientific achievements, technological solutions, and practical approaches in the field of autonomous marine vessels and smart ports, which directly corresponds to the journal's theme and its focus on innovative transport systems and future trends in the transport sector. The Special Issue aims to form a comprehensive vision of the interaction between autonomous vessels and port infrastructure, covering engineering, information, management, and regulatory aspects. The topic of the issue is not too broad, as it focuses specifically on MASS and smart ports, and at the same time it is not too narrow, which allows for the inclusion of a sufficient number of high-quality scientific papers. The goal is to create a collection of scientific articles that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of research in this field and can be combined into a separate printed edition of a Special Issue.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• autonomous navigation and marine vessel control systems;
• sensor systems, data fusion, and situational awareness;
• the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in autonomous shipping;
• ship-to-ship and ship-to-port interaction;
• digital twins of ships and ports;
• automation and digitization of port operations;
• cybersecurity in autonomous maritime and port systems;
• navigation safety and risk assessment;
• energy efficiency and sustainable development of autonomous transport;
• regulatory aspects and MASS standards;
• the human factor and human interaction with autonomous systems.

Prof. Dr. Oleksiy Melnyk
Prof. Dr. Oleg A. Onishchenko
Dr. Martin Jurkovič
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Transportation is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.