Now Norwegian company Yara has teamed up with maritime technology company Kongsberg to build the world's first all-electric and autonomous container ship, which is set to hit the high seas late in 2018.

The hi-tech container ship, named Yara Birkeland, will carry chemicals and fertilizer from Yara's Prosgrunn production plant to the nearby towns of Brevik and Larvik. It will first operate as a manned vessel in 2018, before transitioning to remote operation in 2019 and fully autonomous control by 2020.

The most immediate benefit of the new operation comes from a major reduction in NOx and CO2 emissions as the company shifts its product transportation from what previously required 40,000 truck journeys a year to this new, all-electric shipping pathway.