Seawork 2026

Seawork International is an annual commercial marine and workboat exhibition held in Southampton, regarded as Europe's largest on-water marine event, bringing together naval architects, operators, classification societies and equipment suppliers across workboats, offshore support, pilot vessels and port services.

Seawork 2026 ran from 9 to 11 June and opened the first Autonomous and Remote-Operated Vessel Pavilion in the show's history. Two commercial-scale launches marked the pavilion: Robosys Automation and Sleipner integrated the VOYAGER AI control system with up to four thrusters for automatic station-keeping on crewed and uncrewed vessels, and Loki Dynamics unveiled the MD 3.0, a 340-horsepower diesel engine built for uncrewed surface vessels and available from August. Neither launch carried a defence contract.

The pavilion opened five days after the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency published its Maritime Innovation Hub, and three weeks before the IMO MASS Code enters force on 1 July 2026, confirming that autonomous and remotely operated vessels have crossed from prototype to product category at Europe's principal workboat event.