Yara Birkeland christened

Yara Birkeland will be put into operation in 2022. Initially, it will start a two-year trial period to become autonomous and certified as an autonomous, all-electric container vessel. The vessel will transport fertiliser across the fjord from Yara’s Porsgrunn plant to Brevik port and thereby replace 40,000 diesel truck loads per year and eliminate associated carbon emissions.

Yara developed the battery-driven ship in collaboration with several Norwegian partners. Kongsberg Maritime has developed and delivered the technology, including sensors and integration required for remote control and autonomous operations, as well as electric propulsion, battery and control systems. The ship is built by Vard. Yara Birkeland will be operated by a joint venture undertaken by the Kongsberg Group and Massterly, which is owned by the Wilhelmsen Group. Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, has contributed financially (NOK 133.5 million) to the development of Yara Birkeland.

As a new twist to the maritime tradition, the emission-free ship was christened by two godmothers: Pernille Gundersrud (12) and Malene Moen Straume (12). The two godmothers christened the vessel by throwing a specially made champagne bottle of ice against the bow of the ship.

“This is a milestone for Yara,” says Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO of Yara International. “Yara took a bold decision in 2017. We wanted to build the world’s first carbon-free container vessel. Today, five years later, we celebrate the outcome of this ambitious decision. Yara Birkeland is a result of ambition, curiosity, and collaboration where innovation, sustainability and technology come together.”

The ship is named after Kristian Birkeland, a leading Norwegian scientist in the early 1900s who found a way to use nitrogen from air in the production of fertiliser. Yara was founded in 1905 by Birkeland and the entrepreneur Sam Eyde to combat the emerging famine in Europe.