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2 Introduction
2.1 Background and motivation
Short-sea ferry systems are strategically important for coastal nations, particularly Norway, where road ferries form part of the national road network. Norway's introduction of MF Ampere in 2015 on the Lavik-Oppedal route demonstrated that fully electric Ro-Pax ferries could reduce CO2 emissions by several thousand tonnes per year while remaining commercially competitive.
Since then, the Norwegian ferry fleet has undergone rapid electrification. By 2023-2024, roughly 70-80 electric ferries were in operation, supported by strong zero-emission requirements in public tenders and targeted climate policy.
The IMO uses the term Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) and has completed a regulatory scoping exercise to assess how SOLAS, COLREG, STCW and related instruments should adapt to remotely operated and unmanned ships.
The Lavik-Oppedal project brings these strands together. Fjord1, in partnership with HAV Group and NES, is developing four large battery-electric Ro-Pax ferries with advanced autonomy and a dedicated remote control centre in Florø. This connection is widely described as the world's first fully autonomous ferry connection for large ferries.
2.2 Purpose and research questions
The purpose of this report is to provide a research-level state-of-the-art review of:
- Battery-electric ferry technology and operations
- Autonomous navigation and ship control systems for ferries
- Remote operation and control centres for MASS
The guiding research questions are:
- What technical and operational solutions have proven effective in battery-electric ferry deployments to date?
- What is the current state of ferry-focused autonomy technology and its maturity for commercial service?
- How are remote control centres conceptualised and implemented, and what human factors challenges do they introduce?
- How do existing regulatory and classification frameworks support or constrain autonomous, battery-electric ferries?
- What gaps and risks remain, and what R&D priorities are most relevant for Fjord1 and similar operators?
2.3 Scope and delimitations
The report focuses on short-sea Ro-Pax and passenger ferries with battery-electric propulsion, autonomous and remotely operated ferries in inland waters and coastal routes, and remote control centres supervising ferries and comparable short-sea MASS. Deep-sea autonomous shipping, hybrid powertrains using fuels such as hydrogen or ammonia, and unmanned military craft are considered only when they offer transferable insights.