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World's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel debuts in Norway

The world's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel debuts in Norway. Image Credit: Yara International

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The world's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel debuts in Norway. Image Credit: Yara International

Yara Birkeland will cut 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year

Yara Birkeland, the world ' s first fully electric and autonomous cargo vessel, has launched in Norway, where it is intended to replace the journey of 40,000 diesel-powered trucks each year.

As part of the unveiling ceremony, the sleek blue-and-white vessel completed a short, crewed trip of about 70 km from the town of Horten to Oslo on 18 November.

The next day, Svein Tore Holsether, the CEO of Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara, which owns the ship, gave a tour to the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on the ship.

"We are proud to be able to showcase the world's first fully electric and self-propelled container ship," Holsether said.

"It will cut 1,000 tonnes of CO2 and replace 40,000 trips by diesel-powered trucks a year."

Yara Birkeland has been built by Yara International in collaboration with technology firm Kongsberg Group and shipbuilder VARD.

The plan to build this fully electric, autonomous vessel was first revealed in 2017, a year after Norway opened up the world's first designated testing area for autonomous ships. Holsether said at the time that the company saw battery technology as an opportunity to get rid of toxic emissions altogether. The ship was originally due to set sail in 2020, but its launch was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and some logistical challenges.

According to Holsether, Yara Birkeland will be used to transport mineral fertilisers from a plant in Porsgrunn town to the Brevik port about 12 kilometres away.

The 3,200- tonne ship is able to carry 120 6-meter shipping containers at a time. It features a 7 MWh battery capacity to power two 900 kW Azipull pods and two 700 kW tunnel thrusters, delivering a top speed of 13 knots.

The ship will soon undergo a two-year testing period that will make it self-propelled. Initially, loading and unloading the ship will require humans, but in the long term, all loading, discharging, and mooring operations will be completed using autonomous technology.

During its journey between Porsgrunn and Brevik, the ship will have to navigate in a narrow fjord and sail under two bridges. It will use sensors to detect and understand objects like kayaks in the water to decide what action it needs to take to avoid a collision.

"We've taken away the human element, which today is also the cause of many of the accidents we see," Yara Birkeland Project Manager Jostein Braaten said.

The ship will be charged at the quayside before visiting harbours along the coast and then back again.

After the testing period is complete, the ship will be certified as an autonomous, all-electric container ship.

Enova, a Norwegian government enterprise responsible for promotion of renewable energy in Norwya, allocated up to NOK 133.5 million (about £11 million) to build Yara Birkeland.

"On the way to a low-emission society, transport emissions must come down to almost zero," said Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO of Enova.

"To achieve that, we need projects that can transform the market - projects that have the potential to pave the way for others and increase the pace of change in their sector. This is exactly what we believe the world's first autonomous and all-electric container ship will do."

World's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel debuts in Norway

Yara Birkeland will cut 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year

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