World’s first autonomous electric cargo ship

As global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are underway, the shipping industry’s emissions are on the rise. To put the brakes on this trend, Norway launched the world’s first self-navigating electric cargo ship.

In the shipping industry, replacement is being implemented for electric powered ships equipped with batteries. Dutch transport company Port-Liner operates electric container ships. In addition, Norway is an oil and gas producer and an advanced electric transport country, and many electric ferries are being introduced.

Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara built and implemented the Yara Birkeland, an electrically autonomous cargo ship, on November 19 (local time) to respond. Yarra Buckland will transport up to 120 containers of fertilizer from Porsgrunn, located in southeast Norway, to the port of Brevik.

Yara uses ammonia to make fertilizer. Ammonia production accounts for 2% of global fossil energy consumption and 1.2% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, CEO of Yara Clean Ammonia, said: said.

Yarra Buckland has eight battery sections instead of a conventional machine room, and 6.8 MWh of electricity is supplied by renewable hydroelectric power. This is equivalent to the equivalent of 100 Tesla electric vehicles. According to the person in charge of the electric autonomous cargo ship project, since many ship accidents are due to human error caused by crew fatigue, autonomous navigation makes safe navigation possible.

However, the Yarra Berkland route is about 14 km long, and it is quite difficult to sail through a narrow fjord, break through two bridges, avoid merchant ships, pleasure boats, and kayaks, and dock at one of Norway’s most complicated ports.

Yarra Buckland is testing autonomous navigation controls for the time being. If commercialized, it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 678 tons per year by eliminating the annual transport of 40,000 trucks that use diesel fuel. The electrification of the shipping industry is expected to progress further in the future. One expert points out that there are technical and infrastructure challenges in carrying out long-distance navigation because charging facilities are required at each port. Related information can be found here.