Norwegian companies to develop fully autonomous ship

Norwegian agriculture firm, Yara International and guidance systems builder, Kongsberg Gruppen are to develop the Yara Birkeland, an autonomous and fully-electric container ship. They claim the new vessel will reduce NOx and CO2 emissions and improve road safety by removing up to 40,000 truck journeys in populated urban areas. Yara Birkeland will initially operate as a manned vessel, moving to remote operation in 2019 and expected to be capable of performing fully autonomous operations from 2020. Kongsberg
July 25, 2017 Read time: 1 min
Norwegian agriculture firm, Yara International and guidance systems builder, Kongsberg Gruppen are to develop the Yara Birkeland, an autonomous and fully-electric container ship.


They claim the new vessel will reduce NOx and CO2 emissions and improve road safety by removing up to 40,000 truck journeys in populated urban areas.

Yara Birkeland will initially operate as a manned vessel, moving to remote operation in 2019 and expected to be capable of performing fully autonomous operations from 2020.

Kongsberg is responsible for development and delivery of all key enabling technologies on vessel, including the sensors and integration required for remote and autonomous operations, as well as the electric drive, battery and propulsion control systems.

Operation is planned to start in the latter half of 2018, shipping products from Yara's Porsgrunn production plant to Brevik and Larvik in Norway.

Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • Global ITS market expected to reach US$ 30.2 billion by 2019
    October 3, 2013
    According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research, "Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019," the global market for ITS is expected to reach a value of USD 30.2 billion by 2019, at a CAGR of 11.1 per cent from 2013 to 2019. The demand for ITS systems is rising globally due to increased congestion in metropolitan areas. Development and deployment of intelligent transportation system not only r
    Read More
  • Navigation mapping focuses on more detail, greater accuracy
    March 16, 2012
    Navteq’s business strategy is focusing on more more detail, greater accuracy and added value. Location data provider Navteq has done much to enhance its service offer in recent months, across consumer, commercial and government markets worldwide, and the company reports more to come. Interior destination maps, the most recent addition to Navteq’s pedestrian navigation portfolio, are now being considered for complex transport interchanges to give guidance to transferring passengers, particularly those with m
    Read More
  • Study finds big differences in toll collection cases
    December 16, 2013
    Examination of Norway’s tolling companies finds much to praise, and some criticisms too, as Torill Eidsheim told delegates at the ASECAP conference. The cost of collecting tolls has a substantial effect on the profitability, or otherwise, of tolling companies and is within the company’s control to a far greater degree than, for instance, traffic volumes. And while it is easy to assume that all tolling companies incur similar collection costs, that is not always the case according to Torill Eidsheim, pres
    Read More
  • Panasonic gets connected on The Ray
    June 5, 2020
    A stretch of rural Georgia highway called The Ray is a particularly useful testbed for V2X technology. Panasonic’s Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill what’s so special about it
    Read More

Highlighted Content