Autonomous Watercraft Fleets

ferries · short-sea cargo · tugs · USVs

Autonomy at sea is arriving on short, fixed routes and in craft with no one aboard. Those are also the routes batteries can serve, so electric and autonomous vessels are growing up together.

Leading autonomous vessels and programs: Yara Birkeland, a Norwegian 120 TEU battery-electric container ship with a 6.8 MWh battery; AV Zhi Fei, a Chinese 300 TEU electric container ship on a short-sea route to Qingdao; Prism Courage, a South Korean LNG carrier that crossed an ocean using HD Hyundai's Avikus HiNAS autonomous navigation; and Japan's MEGURI2040 program run by the Nippon Foundation for ferries and coastal ships. Uncrewed surface vessels with no one aboard: Saildrone (US, wind and solar powered), Saronic (US defense vessels) and Yunzhou Tech (China, survey and defense). LEADING AUTONOMOUS VESSELS AND PROGRAMS Yara Birkeland Norway, 120 TEU container ship Battery-electric, 6.8 MWh AV Zhi Fei China, 300 TEU container ship Electric; Qingdao short-sea Prism Courage South Korea, LNG carrier LNG; Avikus HiNAS ocean crossing MEGURI2040 Japan, ferries and coastal ships Nippon Foundation trials UNCREWED SURFACE VESSELS (NO ONE ABOARD) Saildrone US; wind and solar Saronic US; defense USVs Yunzhou Tech China; survey, defense Crewed ships: autonomy assists the watch; USVs carry no one
Yara Birkeland
120 TEU
AV Zhi Fei
300 TEU
Leaders
Norway, China, Japan, Korea
Hub
Fleets

Finding

Autonomous shipping starts with remote-supervised short-sea and harbor work, while ocean shipping stays crewed under current rules

Norway's Yara Birkeland, a 120 TEU battery-electric container ship, and China's 300 TEU AV Zhi Fei on a short-sea route to Qingdao carry real cargo with autonomous capability, but both still run with crew or remote supervision. Uncrewed surface vessels, from Saildrone's wind-and-solar craft to US Navy and Chinese defense boats, are the only fleets that routinely sail with no one aboard.

The International Maritime Organization is writing a code for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), starting as a voluntary code before any mandatory rules, so flag states and class societies such as DNV and ClassNK approve projects one by one. That favors short, fixed routes inside one country's waters: Norwegian fjords, Japanese coastal lanes under the Nippon Foundation's MEGURI2040 program, and Chinese ports. South Korea's HD Hyundai took the ocean-going route, using its Avikus HiNAS system to steer the LNG carrier Prism Courage across the Pacific with crew aboard. See Autonomous Fleets.

Energy is the link to electrification. A short-sea vessel can carry a few megawatt-hours of battery and charge at the berth, and removing the crew frees space and cost that make battery operation pay sooner. Ferries and harbor tugs are electrifying fastest for the same reason they automate first: short legs, fixed routes and a charger at the end. See Seaport Electrification and Autonomous Seaports.

Segments

Autonomous vessels by segment

Status is an ElectronsX assessment.

Autonomous watercraft segments
SegmentSizeOperators and programsPowertrainStatus
Container and coastal cargo120-300 TEU short-sea pilotsYara Birkeland (Norway), AV Zhi Fei (China), MEGURI2040 coastal ships (Japan)Battery-electric on short routes; diesel or LNG on longer onesCrewed or reduced crew; autonomous legs
Passenger ferries10-300 passengersZeabuz (Norway, Stockholm urban ferries), Finferries Falco trials, Norled ferries with Wärtsilä auto-docking, MEGURI2040 ferries (Japan)Battery-electric or hybridSupervised; auto-docking in service
Tugs and workboatsHarbor tugs, crew boatsSea Machines SM300 (US), Kongsberg, Wärtsilä, ABB Ability Marine Pilot (Keppel tug, Singapore)Diesel, hybrid, early battery tugsRemote and supervised
Ocean-going shipsLNG carriers, bulkersAvikus HiNAS (HD Hyundai) on Prism Courage and other vesselsLNG or dieselNavigation assist; crew aboard
Uncrewed surface vessels1-30 m, no one aboardSaildrone, Saronic, Ocean Infinity Armada, Yunzhou Tech (China); naval drones in the Black SeaWind and solar, diesel, batteryOperational fleets

Stack

Watercraft autonomy stack

Watercraft autonomy stack
LayerExamplesRole
Propulsion and energyBattery packs of a few MWh (Yara Birkeland 6.8 MWh), hybrid diesel-electric, LNG; shore charging at the berthShort fixed routes suit batteries; ocean routes still burn fuel
Sensors and navigationRadar, LiDAR, AIS, GNSS/IMU, sonar, thermal and visual camerasDetect traffic and obstacles; follow COLREGs, the international collision rules
Autonomy platformsKongsberg, Wärtsilä, Sea Machines, Avikus HiNAS, ABB Ability Marine PilotSensor fusion, collision avoidance, route keeping, docking
CommunicationsSatellite (Starlink Maritime, Inmarsat), 4G/5G near shore, VHFRemote supervision from a shore control center
Fleet and port integrationVoyage planning, berth scheduling, charging windowsTies vessel timing to port, crane and charging availability
SimulationHarbor digital twins, voyage simulatorsValidates behavior before class-society approval

Adoption

Adoption by segment, most mature first

Watercraft autonomy adoption
SegmentDriversConstraints
Tugs and workboatsShort, repeatable port work; crew safetyPort authority integration, capital cost
Passenger ferriesFixed routes, electrification, crew shortagesPassenger safety certification, public trust
Uncrewed surface vesselsDefense, offshore wind and seabed survey demandMission-specific designs, export controls
Coastal cargo shipsLower crew cost on short-sea routesFlag-state and IMO approval, liability, cybersecurity
Ocean-going shipsFuel and watchkeeping savingsRules assume a crew aboard; reduced-crew operation is years away

Sources

Sources and scope

Scope
Autonomous Watercraft Fleets
Sources
Yara; Navigation Brilliance (Qingdao); HD Hyundai Avikus; Nippon Foundation MEGURI2040; IMO MASS Code work; operator disclosures
Updated
October 2026