Category: Cargo Ships

Yep.

China Daily announced that “the world’s first 2,000-metric-ton all-electric cargo ship has been launched in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.”

It is the first cargo ship in the world to use lithium-ion batteries. It

The ship is 70 metres long (about 225 feet) with battery energy of 2,400 kilowatt hours, the equivalent of about 40 electric cars.  It takes about 2 hours to charge up for a run of 80 kms with a top speed of 12.8 kmh (7 knots), according to its builder, Guangzhou Shipyard International.

Huang Jialin, chairman and general manager of the ship’s designer, Hangzhou Modern Ship Design & Research Co., somehow convinced himself to give this quote: “As the ship is fully electric powered, it poses no threats to the environment.”

Unfortunately, the ship’s task is delivering coal to run China’s power plants to generate the electricity for the ‘no threat to the environment’ ship.

In even more ‘good news’ Chen went on to enthuse about how much more coal the ship could carry. “Theoretically, the fully electric-powered ship could have more capacity in cargo loading. If it is equipped with larger energy batteries, it will carry goods of more than 2,000 tons.”

And Chen said  the other great benefit of the ship’s technology is that “use of the new-energy cargo vessel would help greatly reduce shipping costs for electric power operators.” So they wouldn’t have to spend so much money to, you know, burn coal.

Read the full article at China Daily
Photo Credit:  Xia Shiyani/China Daily

The bunker fuel used in ocean going cargo ships is pretty well the dirtiest on the planet. And each one uses a lot of it, nearly 289 million tons a year according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, quoting an analysis by Chris Wade in an ENFOS article, says “only 15 cargo ships can produce the same amount of pollution as all of the cars in the world (our emphasis).“

Now Japan’s Eco Marine Power (EMP) has signed a patent license agreement with Teramoto Iron Works to bring to life their EnergySail, enabling ships to use solar and wind energy at the same time. The EMP automated rigid sails assist in propelling a ship and can also be fitted with flexible marine-grade solar panels. These provide electrical power fed into a ship’s power system (which is currently run by the engines) or charge batteries.

Teramoto’s experience in the production of rigid sails goes back to JAMDA sails in Japan in the 1980’s which in turn led to them being chosen to manufacture the first production version of EMP’s EnergySail in 2016. This latest agreement with EMP paves the way for full commercial production once sea trials have been completed.

Last year a feasibility study was conducted with ship owner Hisafuku Kisen K.K. of Onomichi, Japan involving several large bulk carriers. For each ship the propulsive power provided by an EnergySail array was measured along with the total amount of solar power that could be installed on each type of vessel.

futurism reports that “once the testing is over, one ship from the fleet will be chosen for a 12 to 18 month trial. The selected ship will be fitted with an array of EnergySails, solar panels on deck, and the hardware necessary to monitor and control every part of the system.”

The final optimized version is expected to be ready in 2019. Greg Atkinson, EMP’s Director & Chief Technology Officer said ”We believe this will pave the way towards the widespread adoption of renewable energy on ships.”

Anything that can be done to reduce the emissions from ocean going ships is by its very nature a good thing. This is a major step forward to a more sustainable future for shipping and is expected to result in the wider deployment of EMP’s solutions on ships ranging from coastal cargo vessels to bulk ore carriers and cruise ships.