HarbourMind puts twelve autonomous vessels into commercial service
Norway's maritime sandbox delivers its first fleet-scale result as supervised coastal cargo runs become routine between Trondheim and Bergen.
Elena Vasquez — Editor
HarbourMind has moved twelve retrofitted coastal cargo vessels into routine commercial service under supervised autonomy, the company said, with each vessel monitored from its Trondheim remote operations centre at a ratio of one operator to four ships.
The milestone makes the Norwegian firm the first to operate an autonomy fleet of this size under the country's maritime regulatory sandbox, and provides the strongest commercial evidence yet for the retrofit model over purpose-built autonomous newbuilds.
“The business case was never about removing the crew. It is about one master supervising four vessels instead of standing watch on one.”
Ingrid Solberg, CEO, HarbourMind
Classification society DNV, which has audited the operation since 2024, is expected to publish findings later this year that could inform IMO's ongoing MASS Code negotiations.
Cite this article
Elena Vasquez. "HarbourMind puts twelve autonomous vessels into commercial service." Autonomous Systems Review, 28 Jul 2026. https://autonomoussystemsreview.com/articles/harbourmind-uncrewed-coastal-service.
