Development of the world’s first fully autonomous containership has been put on hold indefinitely amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The 120 TEU ship, named Yara Birkeland, was planned cut emissions and reduce road transport by up to 40,000 truckloads per year while transporting fertilizer products from Yara’s Porsgrunn plant to Norway’s Brevik and Larvik ports. The Yara Birkeland was initially planned to start off with manned operations this year before transitioning to autonomous and unmmanned operations by 2022.
