New Delhi, December 15, 2021: The world’s first autonomous and fully electric container ship, YARA BIRKELAND is all set to commence its commercial operations. Norwegian owner of the vessel, Yara International has informed that in mid-November the autonomous vessel completed its maiden voyage to Oslo and then sailed to Porsgrunn, the production site of fertilizer manufacturer, Yara International.
The vessel is powered by a Leclanche 6.7MWh high-energy lithium-ion battery system. The energy supply is equivalent to 130 Tesla Model 3 batteries, which provides green power to this ship to achieve the maximum speed of 13 knots. The Leclanche Marine Rack system (MRS) ensures optimum temperature control of the battery cells and reliable service of a minimum of 10 years according to the reports published in fleetmon.com.
Jon Sletten, Project Owner, YARA BIRKELAND said that they are constantly seeking opportunities to reduce their climate footprint. Jon added that the zero-emission vessel will demonstrate the possibility of contributing positively towards climate change without disrupting the ongoing business. Once in operation, the YARA BIRKELAND will be undertaking a completely autonomous voyage between Yara International’s production facility in Heroya to Port of Brevik.
YARA BIRKELAND is an 80 meters long vessel with a capacity of 120 TEU. The battery system of the vessel has been manufactured in Switzerland and the lithium-ion cells were produced at the Leclanche’s facility in Willstatt, Germany. To increase redundancy, the battery system is separated into eight rooms so that if one or more strings are empty, the vessel’s operation will remain uninterrupted.
