Electric propulsion systems will become increasingly common in maritime transport. Their introduction to the shipping market will accelerate after 2025. Experts justify this by tightening the policy limiting the use of traditional ship fuels – is on Electric Ship Market by Type – Global Forecast to 2030 report.
Europe is at the forefront of purchasing electric ships
The electric ship market in Europe will grow by the highest value, from $ 3,358 million in 2021 to $ 11,922 million in 2030, depending on the EU region.
Scandinavian countries are the leaders in Europe. Norway, Finland and Denmark actively began replacing conventional passenger ferries with fully electric passenger ferries several years ago.
Polish shipyards benefit from this policy together with shipyards from other European countries. Crist and Remontowa Shipbuilding have a strong position in the market of building electric ferries for customers from Scandinavian countries. Electric ships for the Norwegian, Finnish and British markets were built in Gdańsk and Gdynia.
Electric and autonomous
Some electric ships are also provided as autonomous ships. Rolls-Royce and the Finnish operator FinFerries presented the world’s first fully autonomous ferry 5 years ago. The control system was mounted on the ferry. The 54-meter ferry with 80 passengers detected obstacles at sea thanks to sensors and artificial intelligence – Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence.
Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has announced that it has deployed the coastal autonomous container ship Mikage to the sea. The ship has successfully passed sea trials. It is the first ship of this type in the world. The Imoto Lines ship sailed independently from Tsuruga Port in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, to Sakai in Tottori Prefecture. The ship covered the distance between the ports by about 300 kilometers. It took place on January 24 and 25 this year.
In Norway, the first voyage, still with a crew, was made to Oslo by the small container ship Yara Birkeland. It is supposed to be an autonomous ship. The unit will provide transport between the Yara fertilizer plant in Herøya and the ports of Brevik and Larvik. The vessel will make it possible to eliminate 40.000 road transports between the fertilizer factory and these ports.
Ships for over $ 9.3 billion in 2027
The electric ship market was USD 5,114.6 million in 2020. The global electric ship market will reach USD 9,361.4 million by 2027. This value will be achieved with the assumed annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6% in 2021-2027 – forecast the authors of the report “Electric Ships Market Statistics 2027”.
Shipowners, public administrations, and investors from Norway, the United States, Greece, China and France order mainly electric ships. They were actively involved in the modernization of the fleets. They are ordering hybrid and electric ships on a large scale.
Demand for vessel conversion. Nauta has an experience
The first fully electric cargo ship in China can travel 80 km and carry 2,200 tons of cargo. A large electric container ship can transport around 200,000 TEU in containers.
Demand for the conversion of ships with traditional propulsion to hybrid ships is increasing. Wartsila has signed a contract with Hagland Shipping AS for the modernization of general cargo carriers operating on the “short see” market with diesel engines to a hybrid battery drive. This is one example.
The conversion was performed by Nauta Shipyard for the Scandinavian offshore fleet operator. On the Viking Neptun (Offshore Support Vessel), the propulsion system was upgraded to a hybrid one. Two sets of Wartsila batteries with a capacity of 870 kWh were installed on the ship.
Four 1.25 MW drives in containers were installed on the ship. Containers with battery packs are connected to switchboards with power and control cables. A new freshwater cooling system for battery packs has been installed. The existing hull structure was strengthened. Power cables for the VLS tower were installed.
Norway is the leader. Remontowa Shipbuilding is a supplier
Norway will continue to convert its fleet of older ferries to electric ferries. Of the 180 Norwegian ferry fleets, 70% of Norway will be converted to battery or hybrid propulsion – according to the authors of the “A Smarter Journey” report, published by Siemens and Bellona in June 2018, the Norwegians will launch 84 new ferries with all-electric propulsion. 43 ferries will be replaced with ships using hybrid technology.
Remontowa Shipbuilding has delivered over a dozen electric ferries to operators from Norway and Great Britain. On Thursday, 4 February, Fodnes (B619/4) – the fourth in the series of hybrid electric-powered ferries, sailed out of Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk. The day before, the ferry was handed over to Norled via videoconference, and the Norwegian flag was hoisted.
The ferries will be equipped with an innovative and highly efficient Diesel Electric Hybrid system. In normal operation, the entire required power will be taken from two battery packs installed on board. The batteries will be recharged from the land grid during the vessel’s stay at quay which will typically be abt. 11 minutes. The shore charging system will be integrated with an automatic mooring system holding the ferries when at the quay and giving the “green light” for the charging process to start.
Festøya, Solavågen, Mannheller, and Foden’s are the state-of-the-art modern battery-powered double-ended hybrid ferries designed to minimize energy consumption and built at Remontowa Shipbuilding. Three of them delivered in 2020 are already sailing in the Norwegian fjords, serving the Festøya – Solavågen and Mannheller – Fodnes connections.
Polish ZEV and ICT HUBs. Crist and Cador manage the hubs
A zero-emission vessel production hub has been established in Poland. This hub was built in the Baltic Port of New Technologies in Gdynia, in the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone.
The coordinator of BALTIC ZEV INNOVATION HUB is the Crist shipyard, with which Stocznia Remontowa Nauta and the design company Cador Consulting cooperate. CADOR is the coordinator of the Baltic ICT & AI HUB. The ASE Technology Group has joined the hub. The company has energy storage technology that can be used on land and on electric ships. TSG Poland operates in the Hub with refueling and bunkering ecological fuels technologies.
At the moment, Crist is building two electric ferries for the Finnish ferry operator Finferries. The operator will receive complete ships, in which the diesel engine is only used to protect the ship in extreme weather conditions. The new two-sided, environmentally friendly, an eco-friendly hybrid ferry will be 100.5 m long and 17.4 m wide. It can accommodate 90 passenger cars and 372 passengers. The ferry is to be operated by a 3-person crew.
“Ship of the Year” and CEMT awards
CRIST shipyard and StoGda Ship Design & Engineering design office won the CEMT 2018 award for outstanding contribution to the success of European marine industries. The award was given for the design and production of the passenger-car ferry Elektra, the first electric ferry in the European Union. Elektra ferry was awarded “Ship of the Year” by the Marine Propulsion Award 2018 and is “Significant Small Ship of 2017” by The Royal Institution of Naval Architects.
The Elektra ferry is sailing between Nauvo and Parainen in Finland. It is 96 m long and 15 m wide. It takes 372 passengers and 90 cars on board. The modern unit is served by only a 3-person crew.
The novelty is the use of a hybrid diesel-electric drive. Elektra has been equipped with three main diesel engines, two azimuth propulsors, and a set of batteries. They are adapted to adverse climatic conditions – a system based on Siemens components with longevity, it has to cope with northern low temperatures and heavy snowfall.
The ferry batteries are loaded during unloading and loading. All it takes is just 7 minutes. Ultimately, the unit is powered by battery power and, if necessary, by a diesel engine.
The main players
Polish shipyards belong to the club of designers and construction of electric ships. The main players in the European electric ship market are Kongsberg (Norway), ABB (Switzerland), Wartsila (Finland), Norwegian Electric Systems AS (Norway).
The main players on the market of building hybrid ships and electrical installations with global potential are Corvus Energy (Canada), General Dynamics Electric Boat (USA), MAN Energy Solutions SE (Germany) Vard (Norway), Siemens (Germany), and Leclanché SA (Switzerland).
Asahi Tanker, Idemitsu Kosan, Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and Mitsubishi Corporation are active in Japan.
South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is beginning construction on an electric propulsion passenger ship that combines for the first time eco-friendly designs with smart technologies. China is now the owner of the world’s first all-electric cargo ship. The ship was constructed by Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Ltd.
