Kongsberg and Wilhelmsen have partnered to establish an autonomous shipping company, Kongsberg announced on 3 April.
The new joint venture company, Massterly, will be based in Lysaker, Norway, and will be fully operational from August 2018.
The new company will offer a complete solution for autonomous shipping, from vessel design and development, to control systems, logistics services and vessel operations. The company will establish land-based control centres to monitor and operate autonomous ships in Norway and internationally.
Massterly will benefit from Kongsberg's technological expertise and solutions and Wilhelmsen's experience in logistics and ship management operations.
Geir Håøy, president and CEO of Kongsberg, said: 'Autonomy and remote operations are an important development for the maritime industry and Norway’s lead has been made possible as a result of close cooperation between the Norwegian maritime cluster and the Norwegian authorities.
'In recent years there has been rapid development driven by a significant increase in demand from customers worldwide, from the traditional maritime industry and others. When autonomous ships soon are a reality, Massterly will be crucial for digitalising the infrastructure and operations.'
Massterly will be capable of delivering and operating autonomous vessels such as Yara Birkeland. The vessel is aiming to be the first fully-electric container vessel and will be completely autonomous by 2020, sailing between Yara's Norwegian production facilities at Herøya and the ports of Brevik and Larvik.
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