The world’s first fully electric and self-steering container ship, owned by fertiliser maker Yara, is preparing to navigate Norway’s southern coast and play its part in the country’s plans to clean-up its industry.
The Yara Birkeland, an 80-metre-long (87 yards) so-called feeder, is set to replace lorry haulage between Yara’s plant in Porsgrunn in southern Norway and its export port in Brevit, about 14 km (8.7 miles) away by road, starting next year. It will cut 1,000 tonnes if carbon emissions per year, equivalent of 40,000 diesel-powered journeys by road and is expected to be fully autonomous in two years. For Yara, it means reducing CO2 emissions at its plant in Porsgrunn, one of Norway’s single largest sources of CO2.
“This is not about changing the sailors, it is changing the truck drivers,” Yara’s Jostein Braaten, venture supervisor for the ship, mentioned on the ship’s bridge, which will probably be eliminated when the vessel is operating at full automation.
The ship will load and offload its cargo, recharge its batteries and in addition navigate with out human involvement.
Sensors will have the ability to rapidly detect and perceive objects like kayaks within the water so the ship can determine what motion to take to keep away from hitting something, Braaten mentioned.
The system ought to be an enchancment over having a handbook system, he added.
“We have taken away the human factor, which at the moment can also be the reason for most of the accidents we see,” Braaten mentioned.
The ship, which is able to do two journeys per week to begin with, has capability to ship 120 20-foot containers of fertiliser at a time.
