Yara Birkeland
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Battery-electric Norwegian container ship built to become one of the first autonomous commercial cargo vessels.
Yara Birkeland is a 79.5 m battery-electric container ship that Norwegian fertiliser maker Yara commissioned to move products from its Porsgrunn plant by sea instead of by diesel truck. It carries 120 containers on a 6.7 MWh battery and two azimuth pods, and Kongsberg supplied the sensors, autonomy and remote-operation systems meant to let it sail without a crew on a short coastal route in southern Norway. The ship entered commercial service with a crew aboard while the autonomous mode is tested, partly because loading and unloading containers proved harder to automate than navigation. It is widely cited as the first purpose-built autonomous, zero-emission container ship.
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79.5 m long with a 14.8 m beam and 6 m draught. A 6.7 MWh Leclanche battery drives two azimuth pods for a 6 kn service speed and 13 kn maximum. Autonomy and remote-operation systems come from Kongsberg, with oversight planned from Massterly's operations centre in Horten. The route links ports in southern Norway within 12 nmi of the coast. Container handling in port proved harder to automate than navigation, so the ship has sailed with a crew while autonomy is tested.
