OSLO, Norway (AFP) – The world’s first completely electric autonomous freight vessel was launched in Norway, a tiny but hopeful step toward decreasing the marine industry’s carbon impact.
By shipping up to 120 containers of fertiliser from a plant in the southeastern town of Porsgrunn to the Brevik port a dozen kilometres (about eight miles) away, the much-anticipated Yara Birkeland, which was unveiled to the media on Friday, will eliminate the need for approximately 40,000 truck journeys per year, which are currently powered by polluting diesel.
“Of course, there have been problems and failures,” said Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Norwegian fertiliser conglomerate Yara.
“But it seems even more fulfilling to stand here today in front of this ship and see that we were able to achieve it,” he added, with the sleek blue-and-white yacht anchored behind him in an Oslo pier, where it had been sailed for the ceremony.
The 80-metre, 3,200-deadweight-tonne ship will shortly undergo two years of operating trials during which it will be fine-tuned to learn to manoeuvre on its own.
The wheelhouse might vanish in “three, four, or five years,” according to Holsether, after the vessel can go 7.5 nautical miles on its own using sensors.
“Quite a number of problems on vessels are attributable to human mistake, for example, weariness,” project manager Jostein Braaten remarked from the potentially doomed bridge.
“Autonomous operation has the potential to provide a safe voyage,” he stated.
While the Yara Birkeland will travel a short distance, it will encounter several hurdles.
Before mooring at one of Norway’s biggest ports, it will have to cross a small fjord and sail under two bridges while navigating currents and heavy traffic from cargo ships, pleasure vessels, and kayaks.
The coming months will be a period of learning.
“First and foremost, we must identify the presence of anything. We must first recognise that it is a kayak, and then we must decide what to do with it “Braaten stated.
“At the moment, huge vessels don’t do much with kayaks. They don’t have much power. They can warn, but they can’t go away “or go backwards to avert an occurrence
Autonomous navigation will need the creation of a new set of laws that do not already exist.