The world’s first crewless, autonomously operated ship is set to sail in late 2018. The Norwegian-built Yara Birkeland is being dubbed the “Tesla of the Seas” because the vessel is fully electric. The $25 million ship will initially start out as a manned vessel, moving to remote operation in 2019 before going completely autonomous in 2020.
The 100-container ship is being developed by two Norwegian companies — agriculture firm Yara International and technology company Kongsberg Gruppen. In late 2018 the vessel will start transporting fertilizer 37 miles down a fiord from a production facility to the port of Larvik.
The companies said in a statement that the Yara Birkeland is expected to reduce emissions by removing 40,000 truck drives a year through urban areas in southern Norway.
“We want to go zero emission,” Petter Ostbo, Yara’s head of production who leads the project, told The Wall Street Journal. “Even if some say climate change is not reality, it’s a business reality because clean sources of energy are more affordable than fossil fuels.”
