Norway Ferry Operator Looking to Switch to Battery and Bio Fuel Propulsion

Hurtigruten says its has intentions of transitioning to vessels with dual battery-bio fuel propulsion.

Norway-based Hurtigruten AS (Hurtigruten) says its has intentions of transitioning to vessels with dual battery-bio fuel propulsion.

"It won’t be many years down the road before Hurtigruten will have battery packs on board the vessels," Hurtigruten's CEO, Daniel Skjeldam, told UK-based Travel Weekly.

"Just by introducing shore power, which we are already doing, we are reducing emissions while we are in port. Just in Bergen, that is 1,600 tonnes of nitrogen oxide per year, and the CO2 reduction is even greater."

Skjeldam says the company is currently working with engineers on the development of vessels that could sustain operation on battery power for two to four hours before switching to algae-based fuels until a recharging port can be reached, but notes that the transition to battery-propulsion depends on the speed of technological development.

Further, Skjeldam says that he would like to expand the company's fleet with "a significant" growth in small ships, aiming to have Hurtigruten vessels all over the world within the next five years.

"We want to be at the forefront of developing an environmentally friendly way to travel. Our guests are very conscious of the environment, and as our ships are sailing to areas of the world where climate change is happening – because global warming has the most impact around the polar regions, we can see this is affecting animal life in the areas where we work – we feel an obligation to do something."

In December, Ship & Bunker reported that ABB Group (ABB) is said set to provide "integral technology" to a "futuristic" hybrid diesel electric ferry concept, named Seasight by shipbuilder Brødrene Aa, slated to operate in Western Norway.