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“ Another crucial component of our business is working not only with our sister company but also with external ferry operators. As long as they are not competing directly with our own ferry company, we order ships to charter out on both long-term and short-term bases. For example, we provide vessels for DFDS and Brittany Ferries.
“ We’ ve become known as a valuable supplier of new passenger / cargo ships in our segments. With the new technology and the flexibility of the concept, we can utilize several different fuels, from traditional fuels to methanol and LNG, as well as batteries for hybrid configurations. We recently delivered two vessels for Brittany Ferries to operate out of Portsmouth, which have sufficient batteries to navigate the Channel without the aid of the main engines for up to an hour. From an environmental point of view, the improvement in battery technology even in the last five years is very significant.”
Industry innovation
Per then reflects on what it takes to become a market leader in climate-neutral transport concepts:“ First, you need to have the capacity, the skillset, and the resources to develop new technologies. You cannot purely rely on buying solutions from suppliers. You also need to know how to integrate these technologies into a vessel design.
“ Electrification is where we see the largest impact on the environmental effect of the vessels. It is significantly more efficient than e-fuels; with batteries, you can achieve around 90-to-95 percent efficiency, whereas with e-fuels, that number is closer to 30 percent. We think that everything that can be electrified should be. Batteries can not only supply what we call the domestic consumption, which includes things like the lights and galley, but also the mechanical drive of the vessel. We can deliver energy to the propeller shafts that can provide enough power to take the ship to 20 knots.
▲ Onboard battery room
“ In the future, when batteries become cheaper, lighter, stronger, and safer, we will be able to install more units, which will enable the operation of our vessels based purely on battery power. We are also looking into other ways to electrify vessels, such as retrofits. We have begun implementing battery packs, including containerized solutions, which can take care of the domestic load and the heating of the ship.”
Per then reflects on some of the challenges facing the decarbonization of shipping:“ Charging capacity is definitely a limiting factor. For example, for the Guillaume de Normandie and Saint Malo, which are chartered by Brittany Ferries, a high-powered charging facility has been installed by the port in Portsmouth. This
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