The world's first autonomous ship project has been put on ice due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The hull of the 3,200-dwt, 120-teu coastal vessel Yara Birkeland was launched at the Vard shipyard in Romania in February.
The vessel was due to arrive at a Norwegian Vard plant this month for fitting of various control and navigation systems, as well as to undergo testing before delivery to owner Yara International.
But the company has now said: "Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the changed global outlook, Yara has decided to pause further development of the vessel and will assess next steps together with its partners."
Yara and technology company Kongsberg teamed up in 2017 to develop the ship. It was also planned to have zero emissions using battery power.
The idea was to replace 40,000 truck journeys a year.
The 80-metre vessel will have a speed of 6 or 7 knots.
Vard bagged the NOK 250m (then $29.6m) deal to build the unmanned ship in 2018.
It was due to go fully autonomous in 2022 on a Norwegian coastal trade route.
The project has received NOK 133.6m in support from the Norwegian government enterprise ENOVA.
