Eco upgrade for Weser ports fleet
What is believed to be the first LNG driven hopper barge to serve in a European port is joining the fleet of Weser port management company Bremenports after completion in Holland.
Bremenports spokesman Rüdiger Staats told Maritime Journal the delivery of the 70.5m long and 10.5m wide newbuilding was expected in July. Currently carrying the project name greenports 1 it will go into service in Bremen/Bremerhaven, Germany’s second biggest universal port complex, “in the second half of the year” and is “believed to be the first working vessel in a European seaport to be powered by eco-friendly LNG”, he said.
Drawing 2.9m the ship is a pilot project costing €4.9 million to build at Holland’s Shipyard Constructions Hoogezand Nieuwbouw (SCHN) in Foxhol, where it was launched at the end of March. The EU has contributed €1.65 million from TEN-T Programme funds to the cost of the project. The new 840 m3 capacity barge will be used to carry dredged silt from harbour basins in Bremerhaven to a disposal facility at Bremen-Seehausen.
The ship was developed by Bremenports and Hollands Ankerbeer engineering concern with two separate engine rooms and a redundant battery unit consisting of ten LiFePo4 blocks and a redundant Scania DI09 074M engine. The system utilises Torque Marine HTP drive and is powered by two gas-driven SGI 16M gensets based on Scania DI 16M engines converted to gas by Sandfirden and which are connected to water-cooled torque motors driving two SRP 200FP Schottel rudder propellers.
On launch, Greenports 1 was just a hull without superstructures, engines or other equipment. The propulsion system was being tested by Sandfirden prior to installation. The system’s two tanks, each of which can hold six cubic metres of LNG, were being manufactured in Asia for installation scheduled in June. Once in operation they will be bunkered by truck in Bremen or Bremerhaven.
Builder SCHN was established in 2012 and specialises in gas tankers for sea-going and inland shipping. Three of its five ships to date have been equipped with LNG propulsion.
SCHN Technical MD Roelof Kregel said he expected demand for LNG technology to continue to rise. “Building this barge for the ports of Bremen was a landmark project for the market. We deliver good work and hope to receive further orders – including orders for more hopper barges from Bremenports”.
The Technical MD of Bremenports, Robert Howe, said: “Both the Bremen State Government and bremenports are banking on sustainable port operations which pay due attention to environmental protection. One of the targets of our Greenports strategy is to reduce shipping emissions at local level”, he said adding that was why the Bremenports specialist fleet was now undergoing ecological modernisation.
By Tom Todd
