A CONTRACT to build the world's first fully autonomous containership was signed by Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, a Norwegian maritime-technology firm, and Oslo-based Yara ASA, a fertiliser manufacturer.

As it stands manned voyages of the 100 to 150-TEU Yara Birkeland will start in 2018, and in 2020 the Yara Birkeland will set sail on its own, reports Bloomberg News. 

The US Coast Guard estimates that human error accounts for 96 per cent of marine casualties. Piracy is another reminder that crews remain vulnerable and ransomable targets. 

The industry is also facing a shortage of skilled workers who want a career at sea.

Crew cost accounts for 44 per cent of expenses, what with wages, quarters, air-conditioning, a bridge and other amenities that take up valuable payload space. 

All this explains why eliminating a crew and its costs has been a long-time goal for companies and governments around the world. 

The most advanced effort so far has come from Rolls Royce, which produced a virtual-reality prototype of an autonomous ship in 2014.

According to the company, the ship will be five per cent lighter, and burn up to 15 per cent less fuel, than a comparable vessel with humans aboard. 

Although the Yara Birkeland can be operated remotely by a pilot, it can also act on its own, using sensors, cameras and navigation tools with an operations centre monitor the voyage.

When launched next year, with a fully electric power plant, the ship will transport fertiliser from Yara's factory to ports about 16 miles away.

This will replace 40,000 trucked shipments a year. Others are working to do similar things. One British organisation wants solar-powered autonomous research vessel cross the Atlantic in 2019.