The Norwegian company Yara International manufactured the first freight ship called The Yara Birkeland, which is completely autonomous, electric and ready for its first voyage.

This ship was designed in order to reduce “emissions of nitrogen oxides, which are toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases, and carbon dioxide.” In addition to translate the burden of the roads to the sea.

By the end of 2021, the ship plans to make its first trip, which will run between the Norwegian cities of Herøya and Brevik. Another peculiarity of this new boat is that it does not require a crew to navigate because it is completely autonomous. However, there are three checkpoints on the ground that allow to monitor the movements.

The Yara Birkeland is equipped with a 7 MWh battery, with which it allows it to power the 2 Azipull 900 kW electric propellers and two 700 kW tunnel motors. The boat is capable of achieving a maximum speed of 13 knots, a figure well below normal for this type of ship, since the standard fluctuates between 16 and 25 knots according to the characteristics of the ship.

The project was conceived in 2017 and from a technical point of view the ship has a capacity for “103 containers of merchandise, 80 meters long, 15 meters wide and 13 meters deep.”

For the loading and unloading of merchandise, it will continue to depend on the human factor, but for the future it is planned to develop “cranes and gantry trucks, autonomous vehicles that place containers on ships.”

The ship is not capable of traveling on international routes. However, it is considered a first step in the evolution of freight transport and according to those expressed by the manufacturing company “this ship could replace up to 40,000 freight truck journeys per year.”

M. Rodríguez

Fuete: motorpasion.com

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