Deep learning (DL) has emerged as a powerful tool for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ship classification. This survey comprehensively analyzes the diverse DL techniques employed in this domain. We identify critical trends and challenges, highlighting the importance of integrating handcrafted features, utilizing public datasets, data augmentation, fine-tuning, explainability techniques, and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations to improve DL model performance. This survey establishes a first-of-its-kind taxonomy for categorizing relevant research based on DL models, handcrafted feature use, SAR attribute utilization, and the impact of fine-tuning. We discuss the methodologies used in SAR ship classification tasks and the impact of different techniques. Finally, the survey explores potential avenues for future research, including addressing data scarcity, exploring novel DL architectures, incorporating interpretability techniques, and establishing standardized performance metrics. By addressing these challenges and leveraging advancements in DL, researchers can contribute to developing more accurate and efficient ship classification systems, ultimately enhancing maritime surveillance and related applications.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship finally arrived on the coast of Nova Scotia last month, marking the end of its long trek across the Atlantic. While the modern Mayflower is far from the first vessel to make that voyage, this small robotic boat is the largest to ever do so navigated by artificial intelligence with no humans aboard. A few technical hiccups notwithstanding, its trip is the latest evidence that the future of the high seas could be autonomous. Slowly, self-steering ships are becoming a reality. In Norway, an autonomous battery-powered container vessel is shuttling fertilizer between a factory and a local port, and pending a successful trial, it could be fully certified within the next two years.

Artificial intelligence will soon be making a career in the maritime industry: Because specialist personnel and cargo space are scarce and transport costs are high, more and more ship owners are relying on ships with state-of-the-art assistance systems and autonomous driving functions. Autonomous ships will get by completely without captain and crew. When autonomous vessels plough through the waves in the future, the history of ghost ships will have to be rewritten. Legends like the Flying Dutchman and the Marie Celeste have one thing in common. Both vessels had a crew on board before fate befell them in the vastness of the oceans.

Autonomous ships are a hot topic in the maritime sector; piracy and armed robbery too. Since the beginning of the year, according to the IMB, almost 100 attacks have been committed against ships all around the world. Here is an attempt to describe an autonomous ship hijacking scenario. In 2025, an autonomous ocean-going container ship is chartered on a busy commercial line between China and Europe. The vessel is a level four autonomous ship according to the IMO classification [1] .

The cylindrical vessel sports a futuristic design like a surfaced submarine, it's sleek hull sculpted to slice through waves with ease. But step on board and things are out of the ordinary. The living quarters have been removed. Cars may dominate today's discussion about the future of autonomous transportation but some of the world's largest maritime companies are betting big on autonomous shipping. Within the next decade, driverless ships like the one just described could be hauling cargo around the world.

September through December are the busiest cargo shipping months of the year thanks to the winter holiday season, and in 2017, that was even more true than usual. The demand for shipping space on container ships, and the pace of arrivals at commercial ports, can hit companies with time-consuming and expensive issues: shipment delays, required changes in shipping method from marine to air, scheduling problems for the unloading and reloading of containers, and freight theft. In a retail environment where Amazon and other large retailers offer quick shipping, for free, manufacturers and retailers now risk losing money -- and customers -- if deliveries are delayed. Increasingly, the commercial shipping firms that retailers and manufacturers rely on to get products from A to B are turning to new technologies like artificial intelligence and automation to analyze the huge amounts of data generating in shipping, with an eye toward streamlining the processes, anticipating potential delays, and saving money. For an industry that has used some of the same systems for years, artificial intelligence and automation offer an opportunity for revolution.

A Norwegian container ship called the Yara Birkeland will be the world's first electric, autonomous, zero-emissions ship. With a capacity of up to 150 shipping containers, the battery-powered ship will be small compared to modern standards (the biggest container ship in the world holds 19,000 containers, and an average-size ship holds 3,500), but its launch will mark the beginning of a transformation of the global shipping industry. This transformation could heavily impact global trade as well as the environment. The Yara Birkeland is being jointly developed by two Norwegian companies: agricultural firm Yara International, and agricultural firm, and Kongsberg Gruppen, which builds guidance systems for both civilian and military use. The ship will be equipped with a GPS and various types of sensors, including lidar, radar, and cameras--much like self-driving cars.

Self-driving cars may not hit the road in earnest for many years - but autonomous boats could be just around the pier. Spurred in part by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, marine innovators are building automated ferry boats for Amsterdam canals, cargo ships that can steer themselves through Norwegian fjords and remote-controlled ships to carry containers across the Atlantic and Pacific. The first such autonomous ships could be in operation within three years. One experimental workboat spent this summer dodging tall ships and tankers in Boston Harbor, outfitted with sensors and self-navigating software and emblazoned with the words "UNMANNED VESSEL" across its aluminum hull. "We're in full autonomy now," said Jeff Gawrys, a marine technician for Boston startup Sea Machines Robotics, sitting at the helm as the boat floated through a harbor channel.

Self-driving cars may not hit the road in earnest for many years -- but autonomous boats could be just around the pier. Spurred in part by the auto industry's race to build driverless vehicles, marine innovators are building automated ferry boats for Amsterdam canals, cargo ships that can steer themselves through Norwegian fjords and remote-controlled ships to carry containers across the Atlantic and Pacific. The first such autonomous ships could be in operation within three years. One experimental workboat spent this summer dodging tall ships and tankers in Boston Harbor, outfitted with sensors and self-navigating software and emblazoned with the words "unmanned vessel" across its aluminum hull. "We're in full autonomy now," said Jeff Gawrys, a marine technician for Boston startup Sea Machines Robotics, sitting at the helm as the boat floated through a harbor channel.

Self-driving cars may not hit the road in earnest for many years - but autonomous boats could be just around the pier. Spurred in part by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, marine innovators are building automated ferry boats for Amsterdam canals, cargo ships that can steer themselves through Norwegian fjords and remote-controlled ships to carry containers across the Atlantic and Pacific. The first such autonomous ships could be in operation within three years. One experimental workboat spent this summer dodging tall ships and tankers in Boston Harbor, outfitted with sensors and self-navigating software and emblazoned with the words "UNMANNED VESSEL" across its aluminum hull. "We're in full autonomy now," said Jeff Gawrys, a marine technician for Boston startup Sea Machines Robotics, sitting at the helm as the boat floated through a harbor channel.