Danish ferry operator Scandlines has announced that the first steel plates for its new zero-emission freight ferry, scheduled to operate on the Puttgarden-Rødby route in 2024, have been cut at the Cemre shipyard in Turkey.
A small traditional ceremony took place, marking the culmination of months of intense preparation.
Scandlines’ COO Michael Guldmann Petersen said: “We have spent the last months getting agreements with subcontractors in place. Monday this week, the first piece of steel for our new ferry was cut and the project is now noticeably underway. Ahead lies an incredibly exciting process with several milestones.”
The 147.4m long vessel will have a capacity of 66 cargo units, equivalent to approximately 1,200 lane metres, and 140 passengers. The vessel will be able to carry trucks on both the upper and lower decks. Scandlines’ freight business is growing, so the company is very much looking forward to launching the new ferry. In 2021 alone, the number of freight units has increased by 12%.
The ship, expected to be the largest all-electric vessel of its type, will use an advanced 10 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) from Leclanché. The BESS will have a capacity of 10,028 kWh with a maximum voltage of 864V, guaranteed by the supplier for 10 years. The BESS uses a highly redundant architecture with 48 battery strings distributed across eight switchboards.
Scandlines says it has a green future vision, with six of its current fleet employing hybrid propulsion, and one is furthermore fitted with a rotor sail.
