Maritime and Coastguard Agency Update: Innovative Vessel Trials in Plymouth Harbour'

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), working with King’s Harbour Master (KHM) Plymouth, has established designated trial areas within Plymouth Harbour to support prototype vessel trials.

The use of these trial areas is a six-month pilot, during which owners and operators are invited to undertake trials on prototypes before requesting commercial certification and to enable the MCA to gather user experience and refine the approach.

These areas, located within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth, provide a controlled environment for early-stage testing including maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) and other innovative technologies where existing regulatory frameworks may not fully address all relevant considerations.

Trials are delivered through the Proving at Sea – Innovative Prototype Vessel Trials framework. This enables:

• operation within defined trial areas
• a risk-based certification approach supported by a trials safety case
• iterative development through an approved change management process, overseen by a designated MCA Innovation Surveyor

Certification is time-limited, issued initially for up to three months and extendable to a maximum of six months where further testing is required.

To proceed, projects must meet the agreed eligibility criteria (UK vessel, <24m, no dangerous goods, etc.) and submit an application supported by a safety case, a regulatory gap analysis, and a concept of operations.

If you are considering trials in Plymouth, please contact the UK Maritime Innovation Hub team by emailing innovation(at)mcga.gov.uk to progress your application. This is a new process, so please be aware that it may take longer than usual to respond to initial emails.