Brevik, Norway, April 29, 2022: Today, 500 young local students and the Crown Prince of Norway, Haakon Magnus, celebrated the christening of Yara Birkeland, the world’s first electric, autonomous container vessel.

As a new twist to the maritime tradition, the emission-free ship was christened by not only one, but two God Mothers. To represent the future, young Pernille Gundersrud (12) and Malene Moen Straume (12) took on this honourable role. The christening took place close to the Yara Porsgrunn plant.

"Fighting climate change and reducing harmful CO2 emissions is the world community’s most important task. Global warming threatens our future," says Gundersrud.

"We are young. We represent the future, as Yara Birkeland does. We are incredibly proud and thankful to be asked to be God Mothers for the world’s first fully electric and autonomous container vessel with zero emissions," says Straume.

The ship will transport fertilizer across the fjord from Yara’s Porsgrunn plant to Brevik port and thereby eliminate the carbon emissions of 40,000 diesel truck loads per year.

A leading nation of green shipping

About 500 Porsgrunn students from fifth to seventh grade joined the Crown Prince in the ceremony.

"We christen you Yara Birkeland. May you be blessed with good fortune on your mission and may you inspire others in the fight for a better climate," the two God Mothers said before throwing a specially made champagne bottle of ice against the bow of the ship.

In his speech, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway addressed the young ones, as well as Yara.

"It takes courage to create something new. It requires investment, patience, and an ability to not give up after the first try. Innovation requires trial and error - and trial and error again - until you succeed. Those of you who have worked at Yara for many years have been involved in this several times before throughout the company's history", said His Royal Highness at the ceremony in Porsgrunn.

A brave decision

"This is a milestone for Yara," says Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO of Yara International.

"Yara took a bold decision in 2017. We wanted to build the world’s first carbon-free container vessel. Today, five years later, we celebrate the outcome of this ambitious decision. Yara Birkeland is a result of ambition, curiosity, and collaboration where innovation, sustainability and technology come together," he says.

Yara developed the battery-driven ship in collaboration with several Norwegian partners. Kongsberg Maritime has developed and delivered the technology. The ship is built by Vard. Yara Birkeland will be operated by a joint venture undertaken by the Kongsberg Group and Massterly, which is owned by the Wilhelmsen Group. Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, has contributed financially (NOK 133.5 million) to the development of Yara Birkeland.

The ship is named after Kristian Birkeland, a leading Norwegian scientist in the early 1900s who is one of the founding fathers of what Yara represents today. Finding a way to use nitrogen from air to the production of fertiliser, Birkeland made the foundation for Yara.

Facts about Yara International

• Yara was founded in 1905 by the entrepreneur Sam Eyde and the scientist Kristian Birkeland to combat the emerging famine in Europe.
• Today, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company.
• Yara has around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries.
• Yara is listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange.

Facts about Yara Birkeland

• Yara Birkeland is the world's first electric and autonomous container ship with zero emissions. The ship will transport fertiliser across the fjord from Yara’s Porsgrunn plant to Brevik port and thereby replace 40.000 diesel truck loads per year and eliminate associated carbon emissions.
• The ship has been developed in collaboration between several Norwegian players. The technology company Kongsberg Maritime is responsible for the development and delivery of the Yara Birkeland technology, including sensors and integration required for remote control and autonomous operations, as well as electric propulsion, battery and control systems.
• The ship was built at Vard’s shipyard in Brattvåg. Massterly, a joint venture undertaken by the Wilhelmsen group and the Kongsberg group, has operational responsibility for Yara Birkeland from its monitoring and operations centre in Horten. State-owned Enova has supported the development of Yara Birkeland with NOK 133.5 million.
• Yara Birkeland will be put into operation in 2022. Initially, it will start a two-year trial period to become autonomous and certified as an autonomous, all-electric container vessel.

Facts Yara Herøya

• Yara Porsgrunn is Norway's largest industrial park and exports to 90 countries. Fertiliser from Yara Porsgrunn provides food for approx. 40 million people every day. Yara Porsgrunn also supplies a number of industrial products, including CO2 for industrial purposes and lime nitrates for e.g. concrete production, odor removal, and latex production. The production capacity is 2,000,000 tonnes of NPK and 810,000 tonnes of lime nitrate. About half of the production is exported to Europe, the rest mainly to Asia.
• Yara has developed a nitrous oxide catalyst to remove nitrous oxide from the production. Since 2004, it has more than halved greenhouse gas emissions. In total, this invention ensures an annual emission reduction of 23 million tonnes of CO2-eq. corresponding to about half of Norway's total emissions.

Media Contacts

Brede Hertzenberg
Head of Communications
Mobile: +47 906 09 009
E-mail: brede.hertzenberg@yara.com

About Yara

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara’s ambition is focused on growing a nature positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.

To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.

Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2021, Yara reported revenues of USD 16.6 billion.

For more information about the company, please visit www.yara.com