First Atlantic crossing with autonomous vessel

A Belgian team of 6 young engineers was the first in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean with a solar-powered autonomous vessel. This is quite an achievement!

The project started in 2015 with the aim of designing a solar-powered autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic with. After four years of construction, the Leuven engineers launched ‘Mahi One’ in 2019, but this first attempt literally went down after a couple of days due to a severe storm with waves reaching more than six metres.

However, the team behind the project did not give up, and in late September 2021, ‘Mahi Two’ was launched in Spain. Despite some technical difficulties along the way, the autonomous vessel arrived in Martinique (Caribbean) on 14 March 2022. In the process, Mahi 2 covered a distance of a whopping 8,000 km in just under six months.

Project Mahi has also resulted in the establishment of a commercial business named MAHI. This company is strongly committed to simplifying maritime autonomy. MAHI has recently also become a Blue Cluster member. Together, we will work on a more sustainable blue economy.