The Yara Birkeland, the first self-contained, exclusively electrically powered container ship, made its maiden voyage on November 19 in the Oslo Fjord, Norway. This small feeder with a capacity of 120 TEU, will start operating in early 2022 transporting mineral fertilizers from the Yara production plant, in Porsgrunn, to the ports of Brevik and Larvik, in Norway, located 7 and 31 miles away respectively.
According to Yara President and CEO Svein Tore Holsether, “this ship will replace 40,000 truck trips annually, primarily powered by diesel, and will reduce CO 2 emissions by 1,000 tonnes.”
In a first stage, this feeder will be controlled remotely from the operations and monitoring center in Horten, some 60 km from the ports in which it plans to operate. This trial period will last about two years, in which the ship’s autonomous systems will be tested to be able to certify it as an electric and fully autonomous container ship.
The Yara Birkeland project has been carried out in collaboration with the marine and aviation technology group, Kongsberg, responsible for the project and the supply of all the technology developed for this ship built in the Vard shipyards. It has had the financial support of Enova, the Norwegian state agency for the development of renewable energy projects, which has contributed 133.5 million crowns (about 13 million euros).