Norway Takes Lead in Race to Build Autonomous Cargo Ships
Source: WSJ
The Yara Birkeland, slated for launch late in 2018, will make short trips delivering fertilizer
By Costas Paris
July 22, 2017 7:00 a.m. ET
OSLO—Two Norwegian companies are taking the lead in the race to build the world’s first crewless, autonomously operated ship, an advance that could mark a turning point in seaborne trade.
Dubbed by shipping executives the “Tesla of the Seas,” the Yara Birkeland now under development is scheduled in late 2018 to start sailing fertilizer 37 miles down a fiord from a production facility to the port of Larvik. Using the Global Positioning System, radar, cameras and sensors, the electric ship is designed to navigate itself around other boat traffic and to dock on its own.
The vessel will cost $25 million, about three times as much as a conventional container ship of its size, but its backers say without need for fuel or crew it promises to cut annual operating costs by up to 90%. The 100-container ship is scheduled to be in the water toward the end of next year, though initially it will be tested with a human at the controls.
The Birkeland is being jointly developed by agriculture firm Yara International ASA and Kongsberg Gruppen AS A, which builds guidance systems for civilian and military uses...................................
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/norway-takes-lead-in-race-to-build-autonomous-cargo-ships-1500721202?mod=trending_now_5
Using GPS, radar, cameras and sensors, the Yara Birkeland—shown in rendering—is designed to navigate itself around other boat traffic and to dock on its own. Photo: Yara
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Plus keeping the US beside Liberia and Burma retaining the non-metric system of measurements.
