A Norwegian fertilizer company announcedit will construct the world's first fully electric, autonomous and emissions-free container ship.

YARA said in a Wednesday that its proposed vessel, the YARA Birkeland – named for company founder Kristian Birkeland – will become the world's first fully electric-powered ship and will begin operations in the latter part of 2018.

The company, in partnership withKongsberg, said the new vessel will reduce harmful emissions and improve road safety by removing up to 40,000 truck journeysit has used in the past in populated urban areas.

"As a leading global fertilizer company with a mission to feed the world and protect the planet, investing in this zero-emission vessel to transport our crop nutrition solutions fits our strategy well. We are proud to work with Kongsberg to realize the world's first autonomous, all-electric vessel to enter commercial operation," said Svein Tore Holsether, president and CEO of YARA.

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The vessel will transport products from YARA's Porsgrunn production plant to Brevik and Larvik in Norway, according to the press release.

"Every day, more than 100 diesel truck journeys are needed to transport products from YARA's Porsgrunn plant to ports in Brevik and Larvik, where we ship products to customers around the world. With this new autonomous battery-driven container vessel, we move transport from road to sea and thereby reduce noise and dust emissions, improve the safety of local roadsand reduce NOx and CO2emissions," saidHolsether.

Otherautonomous vehicles have been developed in global cargo supply chains. In Singapore, between terminals at one of the world’s busiest ports, according to Quartz.

In Europe, aproject planned to cover the entire continent is underway to introduce from ports inland. In addition, Rolls-Royce is reportedly working on what it calls “” that are expected to be operational by the end of the decade.

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