Services / Core themes

Regulatory and Stakeholder Engagement Support

Approval routes for uncrewed vessels are still being written, and the burden of proof sits with the operator. Authorities rarely say no outright. They ask questions, and a programme stalls for months because nobody has written the answers down in a form the reviewer recognises.

What gets done

  • Regulatory route mapping. Which frameworks apply to this vessel, in these waters, for this use, and which of them you can stop worrying about.
  • Flag options, where a vessel could reasonably be registered in more than one place, with the operational and compliance trade-offs set out rather than a single recommendation dropped on you.
  • Approval basis and certification plan. What is being claimed, against what, and what evidence closes each point.
  • CONOPS written for an approver rather than for an investor.
  • Safety case narrative. Who is in control, what happens on degradation, how the risk is managed, and why the answer is acceptable.
  • Trial exemptions and the documentation that goes with them.
  • Port, harbour and coastal state engagement packs, so a harbour master gets the whole operational picture in one document instead of six emails.
  • Sitting in the meeting with you where that helps.

The published material this is framed against

Work is framed against the documents your reviewers will actually have open: the MCA Workboat Code, the MUKRWG Code of Practice for uncrewed vessels, IMO MSC.1/Circ.1604 on MASS trials, and IMCA guidance. Where a national authority outside the UK is involved, the equivalent local route is mapped as part of the work.

What you get

A regulatory roadmap setting out milestones, documents, authorities and the order to approach them in. The submission set, drafted and ready for your review. And a running record of who has been engaged, what they asked, and what remains open, so the case survives someone leaving.

An honest limit

UMC does not grant approval and does not speak for any authority. It prepares you for the conversation, and where useful, is in the room for it. Approval always rests with your flag administration, class society, harbour authority and client.

Related services

Where are you stuck?

Tell me what you have and what you are trying to get to. A paragraph is plenty.

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