I dunno if a "cheap drone" can produce the same magnetic response that a fucking cargo ship can, but it seems extremely unlikely.
And what, you have 2 in the water ahead of you? Is that enough for it to be clear for a cargo ship? They function perfectly all the time and catch every single mine?What happens when 1 finds a mine? How many extras do you carry? What happens when you run out, "just turn around"?
Drones could probably clear a shipping channel, but at some point and actual ship is going to have to go through it.And the suez canal was blocked for ages due to 1 ship, even after having been operated for decades. That, except the ship sinks.
Yeh, but once they have all the big companies complying then they can go after the little guys.And if, at any point, a little guy becomes problematic then they can fuck them over with compliance violations.
So yes. Just use services that don't require ages verification.But once they become large enough or problematic enough, they will get the book thrown at them