Japan’s 1st RORO Autonomous Vessel Certification‘Hokuren Maru No. 2’ connects Kushiro and Hitachi

The Nippon Foundation launched the MEGURI2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Program in February 2020 with the aims of addressing the issue of crew shortages from population decline and reducing accidents caused by human error, by achieving autonomous navigation and implementing stable transport for people and goods.

The Ro-Ro container ship Hokuren Maru No. 2 (operated by Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen Kaisha), which is one of the project’s four Stage 2 ships and operates between Kushiro, Hokkaido, and Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, has completed autonomous navigation demonstration testing, and was certified as an autonomous vessel by the ship classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) on January 27. It subsequently passed inspection by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as an autonomous vessel  (Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)) on February 9.  This was Japan’s first^[1] Ro-Ro vessel to pass these inspections. Accordingly, the Hokuren Maru No. 2 is able to enter commercial service using autonomous navigation functions equivalent to Level 4 of the SAE Levels of Driving Automation.^[2]

Demonstration navigation in Stage 1 of the project, carried out from January to March 2022, successfully carried out autonomous navigation in the congested waterways of Tokyo Bay and of long-distance (roughly 750 kilometers), long-time (more than 18 hours) navigation from Tomakomai, Hokkaido, to Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture. Stage 2, which is currently underway, is using the knowledge gained from Stage 1 to carry out commercial navigation of various types of vessels – a passenger ferry and container vessels – as part of a modal shift toward more environmentally friendly shipping, with the aim of social implementation. The Hokuren Maru No. 2 is a Ro-Ro (roll on, roll off) vessel that trucks and trailers loaded with cargo can drive onto and off of, and is the third of the project’s four vessels equipped with automated navigation systems. It follows the passenger ferry Olympia Dream Seto, which entered commercial service in December 2025, and the newly built coastal container vessel GENBU, which entered commercial service in January 2026. The Hokuren Maru No. 2 Ro-Ro vessel being able to use automated navigation functions in commercial service is expected to mark a step forward toward realizing the safe and efficient transport of goods.

The Nippon Foundation continues to pursue technological development while also promoting the establishment of rules and laws related to automated and autonomous navigation, as well as social understanding, with the aim of having autonomous navigation account for 50% of domestic shipping by 2040.

We expect to obtain valuable data from this vessel, which operates in northern sea areas that are prone to rough weather conditions. An Ro-Ro vessel is extremely important for the Japanese economy going forward as a key to promoting a modal shift, and I am very pleased that the Hokuren Maru No. 2 has become the first Ro-Ro vessel to receive certification as an automated vessel. With the knowledge gained from our work to date and the commercial operation of the vessel going forward, we will work to contribute to stable logistics and safe navigation by reducing crews’ workloads, and also to the creation of international rules.

Four companies – Kawasaki Kisen, Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen, Japan Radio, and YDK Technologies – have been engaged in automated navigation systems testing and joint development as the Ro-Ro Vessel Working Group since fiscal 2023. That development resulted in this vessel being certified for automated navigation by ClassNK on January 27 of this year. Then, on February 9, it received certification as Japan’s first autonomous Ro-Ro vessel from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Going forward, we will continue to offer Kawasaki Kisen’s knowledge as we work toward social implementation.

I would like to extend my most sincere congratulations to The Nippon Foundation’s MEGURI2040 program for having Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen’s Hokuren Maru No. 2 becoming the first Ro-Ro vessel engaged in regular coastal service with Level 4 automation and commencing operations from Kushiro. The Port of Kushiro supports local industry as the gateway to eastern Hokkaido and a logistics hub. This project will contribute to the resolution of maritime and logistics issues including crew shortages, and I expect it to lead to the creation of a sustainable logistics framework, the passing on of our local industrial base to the next generation, and regional economic development.

The Hokuren Maru No. 2 is a roughly 173 meter long, 11,413 gross ton coastal Ro-Ro vessel owned and operated by Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen, used to transport mostly dairy and other agricultural products from Hokkaido from the Port of Kushiro in Hokkaido to  Hitachi Port in Ibaraki Prefecture. Coastal transport is important infrastructure, accounting for roughly 40% of Japan’s domestic freight transport (ton-kilometer basis), but it faces the serious issues of aging crews and a shortage of workers. The Hokuren Maru No. 2 is one of the project’s four vessels, and is a previously operating Ro-Ro vessel that has been retrofitted to achieve automated navigation. For the vessel to operate, it needs to be certified as meeting technological standards stipulated by the government. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) established an Advisory Committee on MASS in June 2024 to consider things like safety standards and inspection methods related to MASS, and the group published its findings in June 2025. For a vessel to operate as a MASS, it needs to undergo testing to confirm items including that sensors, (collision avoidance route) planners, and other components operate appropriately, and the Hokuren Maru No. 2 passed inspection as a MASS on February 9, 2026. The vessel will continue to demonstrate and verify its automated navigation systems going forward, and the navigational data collected will be used to formulate additional rules related to autonomous navigation in Japan and internationally. The maritime industry also has classification societies as third-party bodies to inspect and certify vessels’ safety and quality. Obtaining a classification is a de facto requirement for obtaining hull insurance and financing from financial institutions, and classification societies play a very important role in the industry. Japan’s ClassNK is one of the world’s leading classification societies, and has established the world’s first MASS classification verification (notation) related to automated navigation. The Hokuren Maru No. 2 is the second vessel to receive this certification, following the MEGURI2040 project’s GENBU.