The world's first wholly electric autonomous cargo vessel was revealed in Norway, in a bid to decrease the maritime industry's carbon footprint.

By shipping about 120 containers of fertiliser from a plant in the southeastern town of Porsgrunn to the Brevik port about 12 km away, the much-stalled Yara Birkeland revealed to the media on Friday, will eliminate the requirement for about 40,000 truck journeys a year that is now fuelled by polluting diesel.

Chief executive of Norwegian fertiliser major Yara, Svein Tore Holsether, told the media that there have been challenges and delays.

The 80 m 3,200-deadweight tonne ship will shortly begin two years of working trials during which it will be fine-tuned to study to manoeuvre on its own. The wheelhouse could vanish altogether in three, four or five years, said Holsether, once the vessel performs its 7.5-nautical mile trips on its own with the help of sensors.

Many incidents happening on vessels are because of human error, due to fatigue, for example, project manager Jostein Braaten told the media from the likely destroyed bridge. Autonomous operating can facilitate a safe journey.

While the distance the Yara Birkeland will travel may be small, it will meet many barriers. It will have to travel in a narrow fjord, and sail under two bridges while handling currents and heavy traffic from pleasure craft, kayaks and merchant vessels, before docking at one of Norway's busiest ports.

The maritime sector, which is accountable for about 3% of all man-made emissions, targets to drop its emissions by 40% by 2030 and 50% by 2050. Despite that, the sector has witnessed growth in recent years.

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