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

  • Increased use of bio-fuels would enable Finland to achieve EU emissions goals
    June 16, 2014
    Finland’s technical research centre VTT and the Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT) have completed a study commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the Ministry of the Environment, assessing the impact of the EU's 2030 Climate and Energy Framework on Finland's energy system and national economy. The increased use of second-generation bio-fuels in road transport would provide Finland with the most cost-effective way of achieving the greenhouse gas emissions goals presente
    Read More
  • AVs in the Netherlands? Don't forget the bikes
    June 11, 2019
    The Netherlands’ famous love of bicycles could be a problem when it comes to the deployment of autonomous vehicles there. And there might be other obstacles, finds Ben Spencer Of all the countries on the planet, the Netherlands is most ready to start deploying autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to a survey by KPMG earlier this year. On the face of it, this is good news: coming first out of 25 countries listed in the Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI) for the second consecutive year puts the Du
    Read More
  • Rolls-Royce publishes vision of the future of autonomous shipping
    July 4, 2016
    A white paper published by the Rolls-Royce led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) outlines the project’s vision of how remote and autonomous shipping will become a reality. Published to coincide with its presentations at the Autonomous Ship Technology Symposium 2016 in Amsterdam, the AAWA whitepaper explores the research carried out to date on the business case for autonomous applications, the safety and security implications of designing and operating remotely operated ships,
    Read More
  • The weighty problem of truck routing enforcement
    March 17, 2015
    The growing impact of heavy commercial vehicles on urban and interurban highway infrastructures around the world is driving the need for reliable route access restriction and monitoring. The support role of enforcement is proving fertile ground for ITS development. Bridges are especially vulnerable – and critical in terms of travel delays. The US state of Oregon’s Department of Transportation (ODOT) operates what it claims is one of the country’s most aggressive truck route restriction enforcement programme
    Read More

Highlighted Content