Kochi: The world's first autonomous electric ships will be manufactured at Kerala headquartered Cochin Shipyard. They will manufacture two autonomous electric ferries for the Norwegian company ASCO Maritime AS.
Cochin Shipyard, the largest shipyard in India, and ASCO Maritime, the company under the Norwegian retail business group NorgesGruppen ASA, inked a contract for manufacturing the autonomous electric ferries. They have also entered into an agreement to make two similar ferries.
The autonomous ship is a Norwegian project aiming at zero-pollution goods movement through the strait of Oslo. It also has financial support from the Norway government. The ship will be functioning on a 1846 kw battery.
The ferry will be handled by Massterly AS, the first company in the world to manage autonomous vessels. The trial run and commissioning of the ship will take place in Norway after completing manufacturing in Kochi. The ferries will be capable of carrying 16 giant trailers used for goods movement.
The ship is fully engineered by Cochin Shipyard and is designed by Naval Dynamics in Norway. Cochin Shipyard owned the contract of manufacturing autonomous electric ferry outshining many leading companies in the world, due to its experience in making high end ships with top technological features and exporting them to Western Europe.
