First German methanol research ship under build

The 35.7m long, 9m wide coastal research and training cutter Uthörn II is also the first methanol-fuelled ship to be built at a German shipyard. And that shipyard, as with so many previous pioneering German shipbuilding projects, most recently Atair – the world first LNG multi-purpose search and research ship – is Fassmer on the Weser.

The keel for Uthörn II was laid in June and the Government-owned newbuild is for handover in October 2022 to operators the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmhorst Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven.

The newbuild will not only “set new standards for sustainability in German shipping” but will also be “the first sea-going German vessel equipped with an environmentally friendly and particularly low-emission methanol drive”, declares the AWI.

Germany’s Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has put up €14.45 million for the new ship. It will replace the 30.5m x 8.5m training and coastal research cutter Uthörn, powered by MWM TBD engines and in service in the German Bight out of Heligoland since 1982. Uthörn will be 40 years old in 2022 and what will become of it is not yet known. The BMFB has however has already said that Uthörn II will operate in the same general area as its predecessor.

Last August after the Berlin Government placed the order for Uthörn II, yard MD Harald Fassmer said Atair had been challenging and added that in that respect nothing had changed as far as Uthörn II was concerned.

“The implementation of new drive technologies in special shipbuilding requires extensive system expertise on the part of the shipyard”, he said. “This applies to this new building in particular” he added noting that at that point relevant regulations and component type approvals were still being co-ordinated.

A year later, with construction underway, design plans are clearer and more advanced – as the AWI’s Michael Klages revealed to Maritime Journal.

As things stand, two Scania DI 16 diesel engines each of 300kW/1500 rpm and modified for operation with methanol are planned. They are being modified and supplied especially for the project by ScandiNAOS and will drive two compact AC 400v PM electric motors – type Ramme or similar – with Danfoss or comparable frequency converters. Two variable pitch propellers of unspecified make will be five-bladed to minimise underwater noise and will provide 10 knots.

Cutting-edge equipment planned for the Uthörn II, says AWI, includes an extensive working deck with dry and wet labs, crane jibs for trawl nets and water samplers. Already certain and ordered from Hoppe Marine in Hamburg is Uthörn II’s roll-damping system.

Michael Klages told Maritime Journal that scientific sonar systems under consideration for the methanol cutter include a fisheries type Kongsberg Type EK80 multi-frequency echo- sounder, which will locate and identify fish-swarms. An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) – type Ocean Marine from Teledyne Marine or equivalent – as well as a multi-beam Kongsberg EM2040 echo-sounder or equivalent and a sediment profiling sonar system Type Innomar SES 2000 or equivalent are also on the list, he revealed.

AWI Director Professor Antje Boetius said that “the most interesting aspect” of Uthörn II remains its methanol propulsion system. One major advantage, she noted, was that once methanol production was combined with renewable energies the newbuild could operate virtually CO2-neutral.

The AWI said it plans to conclude a supply contract for green methanol so that CO2 neutrality is possible from ship handover in 2022 and says that medium-term it may also be possible to produce methanol in Bremerhaven.

Michael Klages is confident that against this kind of background and once Uthörn II is in service, a planned application for the award of Germany’s coveted Blauer Engel award for environmentally friendly ship design is likely to be accepted.