MV Yara Birkeland

History
NameYara Birkeland
Namesake
OwnerYara International
RouteHerøya–Brevik, 7 NM (13 km)
Ordered2017
BuilderMarin Teknik
Cost$25m
In service2022
Identification
General characteristics
TypeAutonomous cargo ship
Tonnage3,200 DWT
LengthOver 80 metres (260 ft)
Beam15 metres (49 ft)
Draught5 metres (16 ft)
Depth12 metres (39 ft)
Installed powerBatteries 6,800 kWh, 6,600 V[2]
PropulsionElectric motors driving 2 azimuth pods (2x 900 kW) and 2 tunnel thrusters (2x 700 kW)[2]
Speed
  • 6 knots (11 km/h) service
  • 12 knots (22 km/h) maximum
Capacity120 TEU
Crewmanned[3]
NotesFirst autonomous commercial ship in the world.

MV Yara Birkeland is an autonomous 120 TEU container ship[4] carrying fertilizer between ports at Herøya and Brevik in Norway.[3] The Yara Birkeland was designed to serve as a proof of concept for a fully autonomous ship capable of global travel and with multiple functions from industrial site operations to port operations.

  1. ^ "YARA BIRKELAND (Container Ship)". MarineTraffic. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Yara Birkeland | Yara International". 12 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b Bosch, Hieronymus (29 August 2022). "COLUMN | Semi-autonomous navigation: Yara Birkeland, Suzaku, Njord Forseti and Orca AI [Offshore Accounts]". Baird Maritime. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. In 2021 it commenced operations with a full crew on board
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference YahooRepeatsAFPNov2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).