The world‘s first unmanned zero-emission container ship will make its maiden voyage in Norway

According to foreign media CNET, Yara Birkeland may be the future of cargo ships. This container ship runs on battery power, produces zero emissions, and has no crew. The large ship sailed autonomously, and its crew watched its movements from miles away. According to CNN‘s first report on Wednesday, after four years of research and development, Birkeland is ready for its maiden flight. Yara said that this is the world‘s first unmanned zero-emission container ship.

According to Yara, the Norwegian company responsible for the development of the ship, its goal is to start from the town of Heroya and stop at Brevik. It will not go on any major ocean voyages right away, but if all goes well, it will show that the ship is capable of accomplishing things similar to today’s fossil fuel-burning cargo ships. Birkeland will use a 7 MWh battery, which gives the vessel a top speed of 13 knots (or 15 mph). It can carry 103 containers in this process.

Although this ship does not require human instructions when sailing, it still needs humans to load and unload its cargo. Yara hopes to change this situation through future investments in autonomous cranes and other machines, so that humans do not participate in this process. Without human labor, this mode of transportation becomes more cost-effective.

Although the progress made by Yara is impressive, its own technology is still in its infancy. Like self-driving cars, self-driving ships also need to navigate various challenges such as obstacles, traffic and more.

Boxbay Chairman and CEO Mathias Dobner (Mathias Dobner) said: "The performance, reliability, energy consumption and other important parameters of the system far exceed our original goals. Power regeneration and solar panels also help to minimize carbon dioxide emissions. For ports around the world, this innovative and disruptive technology not only increases the loading and unloading capacity of terminals and container storage capacity, but also makes them more accessible. Continued development has taken a further step.