Zero emissions and, soon, zero crew: the world's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel was unveiled in Norway, a small but promising step toward reducing the maritime industry's climate footprint. By shipping up to 120 containers of fertilizer from a plant in the southeastern town of Porsgrunn to the Brevik port a dozen kilometres (about eight miles) away, the much-delayed Yara Birkeland, shown off to the media on Friday, will eliminate the need for around 40,000 truck journeys a year that are now fuelled by polluting diesel. "Of course, there have been difficulties and setbacks," said Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara. "But then it feels even more rewarding to stand here today in front this ship and see that we were able to do it," he said, with the sleek blue-and-white vessel moored behind him in an Oslo dock, where it had been sailed for the event. The 80-metre, 3,200-deadweight tonne ship will soon begin two years of working trials during which it will be fine-tuned to learn to manoeuvre on its own.

Zero emissions and, soon, zero crew: the world's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel was unveiled in Norway, a small but promising step toward reducing the maritime industry's climate footprint. By shipping up to 120 containers of fertilizer from a plant in the southeastern town of Porsgrunn to the Brevik port a dozen kilometres (about eight miles) away, the much-delayed Yara Birkeland, shown off to the media on Friday, will eliminate the need for around 40,000 truck journeys a year that are now fuelled by polluting diesel. "Of course, there have been difficulties and setbacks," said Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara. "But then it feels even more rewarding to stand here today in front this ship and see that we were able to do it," he said, with the sleek blue-and-white vessel moored behind him in an Oslo dock, where it had been sailed for the event. The 80-metre, 3,200-deadweight tonne ship will soon begin two years of working trials during which it will be fine-tuned to learn to manoeuvre on its own.

Autonomous cargo hauling won't be limited to a handful of trucks and aircraft. As CNN reports, Yara International now expects to sail the first autonomous, fully electric cargo ship in Norway by the end of 2021. The Yara Birkeland will travel from Herøya to Brevik with only three remote control centers keeping watch over the journey. Yara first developed the concept in 2017 and had planned to set sail in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the trip. It's not the first crewless ship of any kind to venture forth (a Finnish ferry launched in 2018), but it is the first all-electric model.

Artificial intelligence will soon be making a career in the maritime industry: Because specialist personnel and cargo space are scarce and transport costs are high, more and more ship owners are relying on ships with state-of-the-art assistance systems and autonomous driving functions. Autonomous ships will get by completely without captain and crew. When autonomous vessels plough through the waves in the future, the history of ghost ships will have to be rewritten. Legends like the Flying Dutchman and the Marie Celeste have one thing in common. Both vessels had a crew on board before fate befell them in the vastness of the oceans.

Gard's mission is: Together we enable sustainable maritime development. To deliver on this mission, we explore and support the development of emerging technologies including maritime autonomous surface ships. The Nordic countries are leading the way in this area and we are proud to be collaborating with Yara International (Yara) and their newly established company Yara Birkeland AS that is developing the well-known Norwegian autonomous logistics project, YARA BIRKELAND. Construction of the zero-emission autonomous containership has already begun. When the ship enters service in early 2020, she will be operated by onboard crew while the autonomous systems are being tested and certified safe.

A Norwegian container ship called the Yara Birkeland will be the world's first electric, autonomous, zero-emissions ship. With a capacity of up to 150 shipping containers, the battery-powered ship will be small compared to modern standards (the biggest container ship in the world holds 19,000 containers, and an average-size ship holds 3,500), but its launch will mark the beginning of a transformation of the global shipping industry. This transformation could heavily impact global trade as well as the environment. The Yara Birkeland is being jointly developed by two Norwegian companies: agricultural firm Yara International, and agricultural firm, and Kongsberg Gruppen, which builds guidance systems for both civilian and military use. The ship will be equipped with a GPS and various types of sensors, including lidar, radar, and cameras--much like self-driving cars.

Automation seems to be the future, with top tech firms racing to dominate drone delivery by land, sea and air. The world's first unmanned ghost ships could take to the seas by the end of the decade, but they also pose unique problems that will need to be overcome. In an article for The Conversation, Christian Matthews, head of maritime technology at Liverpool John Moores University, explains the challenges ahead. Norway-based Yara has revealed its plans to develop the world's first all-electric and autonomous container ship that is predicted to remove 747 tons (678 tonnes) of carbon dioxide from the air by reducing diesel-powered truck haulage by 40,000 journeys a year Researchers have developed the world's first autonomous, zero-emissions cargo ship, The Yara Birkeland. Developed by agriculture company Yara International ASA and high-technology systems firm Kongsberg Gruppen, will be capable of autonomous mooring and route planning.

Researchers have developed the world's first autonomous, zero-emissions cargo ship. The vessel could dramatically reduce diesel emissions from conventional cargo ships. The vessel, developed by agriculture company Yara International ASA and high-technology systems firm Kongsberg Gruppen, will be loaded and unloaded automatically using electric cranes. Researchers have developed the world's first autonomous, zero-emissions cargo ship: The Yara Birkeland. Developed by agriculture company Yara International ASA and high-technology systems firm Kongsberg Gruppen, will be capable of autonomous mooring and route planning.

Self-driving cars are a focus for a lot of tech companies, but in Europe, a group of companies are working to bring self-driving technology to an unexpected area: the ocean. Two companies in Norway are working on an autonomous shipping boat that wouldn't need a human crew. Firms Yara International ASA and Kongsberg Gruppen are developing the Yara Birkeland and want to begin test runs with the boat starting in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. According to Kongsberg Gruppen, the ship will have a storage capacity of 100 to 150 twenty-foot equivalent units and will feature batteries as a major power source. The ship will use Lidar, cameras, radars and other physical sensors to power its autonomous functions.