26th November 2021 World's first autonomous, all-electric container ship The world's first electric and self-propelled container ship – Yara Birkeland – has undertaken its maiden voyage in the Oslo Fjord.
"We are proud to be able to showcase the world's first fully electric and self-propelled container ship," said Svein Holsether, CEO of Norwegian chemical company Yara International. "It will cut 1,000 tonnes of CO2 and replace 40,000 trips by diesel-powered trucks a year." Yara has collaborated since 2017 with maritime technology company Kongsberg to develop the ship, which sailed from Horten to Oslo, a distance of approximately 35 nautical miles (65 km). Powered by 7 MWh batteries, it uses an automatic identification system (AIS), cameras (including infrared), a lidar, and radar system. It will begin commercial operations in 2022, transporting mineral fertiliser between ports in southern Norway at up to 15 knots (28 km/h). "Norway is a big ocean and maritime nation, and other nations look to Norway for green solutions at sea. Yara Birkeland is the result of the strong knowledge and experience we have in the Norwegian maritime cluster and industry," said Geir Håøy, CEO of the Kongsberg Group. "The project demonstrates how we have developed a world-leading innovation that contributes to the green transition and provides great export opportunities for Norwegian technology and industry."
Enova, a Norwegian government enterprise responsible for promotion of renewable energy, has been allocated up to NOK 133.5 million (US$15 million) to build the 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." Alongside the construction of Yara Birkeland, Yara has started "green ammonia" development at its newly established Yara Clean Ammonia unit. No carbon is emitted when ammonia is burned, no cooling to extreme temperatures is required and it has a higher energy density than liquid hydrogen, making it more efficient to transport and store. It is therefore a promising next-generation fuel for shipping. With a cargo capacity of 120 TEU ("twenty-foot equivalent unit") and total length of 79.5 m (261 ft), the Yara Birkeland is relatively modest in scale. However, future battery advances could enable much larger ships to make this transition. Perhaps in the next 50 years or so, the world's entire fleet of container vessels will be fully autonomous and running on 100% clean power.
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