Posted on August 24, 2017
Written by Brielle Scott
You’ve heard of sailing a ship with a “skeleton crew,” but what about no crew at all?
The ghost ships from tall tales of pirates and buried treasure are no longer the stuff of fiction: A Norwegian company is developing a fully autonomous container ship that will eventually troll the high seas with no crew aboard.
The ship comes with a steep price tag of $25 million – about three times as much as a typical container ship – but promises to offer major benefits in safety, efficiency and cost savings. Dubbed the “Tesla of the Seas” by shipping executives, the YARA Birkeland is scheduled to be in the water next year for initial testing (with humans aboard first), then begin transporting fertilizer from a production facility to the Port of Larvik starting in late 2018.
Investors in the project estimate the Birkeland could save a staggering 90 percent in operating costs. Without a crew to house, feed, and provide with air conditioning, heating, and sewage services, the ship can be streamlined to increase fuel efficiency and cargo capacity.