EMEA News
"Dramatic" Improvements to Port Sustainability Promised
Power supply solutions provider Cavotec says it will make automated mooring and its shore power Alternative Maritime Power (AMP) electrical supply systems to service the world's first fully battery powered ferry in Norway.
"These are the first systems anywhere in the world that integrate automated mooring and automated shore-to-ship AMP," said Sofus Gedde-Dahl, managing director of Cavotec Norge A/S.
"This project demonstrates Cavotec's capacity for innovation, and our ability to offer integrated systems that maximise efficiency gains and environmental performance."
The systems will serve a battery-powered, catamaran-hulled ferry run by Norled, which will have a capacity for around 120 cars and 360 passengers and is set to start service in 2015.
"The extent of technical innovation and system integration of this project shows how port operations can be made dramatically more sustainable and efficient," said Sigvald Breivik, Norled's technical director.
Ship captains will be able to operate the units, known as MoorMaster, using radio remote controls from the vessel, and the AMP unit will automatically engage and begin charging when the ship is secure.
The ferry's propeller system can be switched off for nine minutes of the 10-minute boarding process, which Cavotec says provides "more than sufficient time" to charge the batteries.
The ferry was developed by Siemens and Norwegian shipyard Fjellstrand AS as part of a contest run by Norway's Ministry of Transportation.
