Sustainable maritime logistics is gaining ground – and news out of Norway that two fully electric ships will replace two million kilometres of truck transport, saving 5 000 tonnes of CO2 every year, is a move in the right direction.
Kongsberg Maritime and Massterly (a Kongsberg Wilhelmsen joint venture offering a complete value chain for autonomous ships) have signed contracts with Norwegian grocery distributor ASKO to equip two new vessels with autonomous technology, and to manage their operations at sea.
ASKO currently transports its cargo using more than 800 trucks daily. At present road transport is the single mode of transportation to link their warehouses on the western side of the Oslo fjord with their distribution centre on the eastern side. The new roro (roll on, roll off) vessels will replace the current solution with a zero emission transport alternative.
The grocery distributor aims to be 100% emission free by 2026.
“When we teamed up with Wilhelmsen to form Massterly, this was exactly the kind of project we wanted to enable,” said Kongsberg Maritime president Egil Haugsdal. “By working together with us to bring autonomous, electric solutions into everyday use, ASKO are helping to achieve a sustainable, safer future for maritime operations while also demonstrating the efficiencies these technologies can deliver.”
The vessels, which are due to be delivered early in 2022, will initially operate with a reduced crew, before moving towards unmanned voyages.
