Page 13: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2018)

Massterly

World First: Autonomous Shipping Company

The road toward autonomy has taken a major step

L to R: Geir Håøy, President and CEO of Kongsberg and Thomas Wilhelmsen, Wilhelmsen Group CEO.

with the announcement that Wilhelmsen and Kongs- berg are collectively taking the next step in autono- story was the announcement of Yara Birkeland in mous shipping by offering a complete value chain for

May 2017. It will be the world’s ? rst fully-electric autonomous ships, from design and development, to container vessel and will be completely autonomous control systems, logistics services and vessel opera- by 2020, sailing between Yara’s Norwegian produc- tions. The new venture is dubbed “Massterly”. tion facilities at Herøya and the ports of Brevik and

Larvik. Massterly can deliver and operate autono-

What is Massterly?

mous vessels such as Yara Birkeland.

Thomas Wilhelmsen, Wilhelmsen group CEO, ex- “Currently, we are at the very beginning of this plains: “Through the creation of the new company development, but we see and believe that there will named Massterly, we take the next step on this jour- be a signi? cant market for these types of services in ney by establishing infrastructure and services to de- the near future. At ? rst, short sea shipping will use sign and operate vessels, as well as advanced logis- autonomous ships. This also implies increased com- tics solutions associated with maritime autonomous petitiveness to move transport from road to sea. The operations.” The Massterly plan is to have land-based gains are increased ef? ciency and reduction of emis- control centers monitor and operate autonomous sions. For Norway as a maritime nation, this will be ships globally, tapping Kongsberg’s tech solutions an important contribution to reach the UN sustain- (Photo: Kongsberg/Wilhelmsen) and Wilhelmsen’s logistics and ship management op- autonomous ships soon are a reality, Massterly will able development goals,” says Wilhelmsen. The JV erations. Geir Håøy, President and CEO of KONGS- will be based at of? ces in Lysaker, Norway, with

BERG, said, “Autonomy and remote operations are be crucial for digitalizing the infrastructure and op- plans to be fully operational from August 2018.

an important development for the maritime industry erations,” and Norway’s lead has been made possible as a result

See Tom Mulligan’s Autonomy

Yara Birkeland Milestone of close cooperation between the Norwegian mari-

Tech Report starting on page 50

A key milestone in Norway’s maritime autonomy time cluster and the Norwegian authorities. When

HOISTING, PULLING, JACKING, RIGGING, MATERIAL HANDELING, SAFETY • Atlanta • Charlotte • Chicago • Columbus • Dallas • Denver • Detroit • Green Bay • Houston • Kansas City • Los Angeles • Minneapolis • Nashville • New Orleans • New York City • Philadelphia • Phoenix • Pittsburgh • San Francisco • Seattle • St. Louis • Tampa • Toronto (800) 878-7305 www.RentLGH.com/MTR [email protected] www.marinelink.com 13

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