Norway to buy battery-operated ferries to help the environment

The Sognefjord shipyard made fuel-guzzling boats for the oil industry for many years. Now its prosperity lies in going green, as the shipyard is assembling the first ferry boats that will be entirely powered by batteries.

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Erlend Hatleberg, a project manager at Havyard Group ASA, that runs the Sognefjord shipyard building the new ferries, said that they will be producing the ferries for the next five years. Hatleberg emphasized that although they had been in a deep lull in ferry orders over recent years, activity was now back.

Electrifying ships lags behind EV production.

Even so, there are dozens of battery-powered boats about to make their maiden voyages through inland waters in Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Some are even autonomous boats with no crew.

Norway is at the forefront of the push to use electric power. The state oil company is actually expanding into offshore wind farming. People drive more electric cars per capita than any country in the world in spite of the fact Norway is a northern country with long and cool winters.

Norway has an ambitious target of having all boats that carry both passengers and cars along the coast to be battery-operated by 2030. This still will have a minimal effect globally.

To electrify the global fleet would be an enormous undertaking

There are 50,000 tankers, freighters, and carriers in the world's oceans that would be required to switch to renewable energy. The biggest ships have diesel engines the size of a four-story house. The global fleet's emissions are comparable to those of 64,000 passenger cars.

The International Council on Clean Transportation predicts that by 2050 sea transport could account for 17 percent of CO2 emissions, a huge increase from the two or three percent the transport causes at present. Shipping was not included in the Paris agreement.

In any event, battery technology has not evolved to the point where it could power ships on long ocean voyages according to the International Maritime Organization. However, the organization is set to release an initial set of guidelines for the reduction of greenhouse gases in April.

Lloyd's Register Group said in a December report: “Battery technology is simply not competitive and still requires significant further evolution in terms of performance and cost reduction before it could be preferable to synthetic fuel options,”

Norway coast ideally suited for electric-powered ships

Along Norway's coasts there are many populated waterfront areas that allow the ships to be easily recharged. Often the charging time is minimal as show on the appended video. The ships improve air quality and noise pollution as well.

Norway has hundreds of long narrow inlets that can stretch even hundreds of kilometers inland. Ferries are an essential addition to road transportation. Edvard Sandvik, head of the Public Roads Association said that by 2021 there should be about 60 battery-powered or hybrid ferries in operation.

First electric ferry started operation in 2015.

The Ampere is a catamaran with two hulls. It is 80 meters long and 21 wide with seven crew cabins and 140 chairs. It can carry up to 120 cars and 360 passengers.

The groundbreaking ferry was constructed by the Norwegian Shipyard Fjelistrand in Omastrand in collaboration with Siemens and Nortel. It was the world's first electric-powered ferry. It was delivered in October 2014, but did not start commercial operations until May 2015.

The Ampere operates in the Sognefjord between the two villages of Lavik and Oppedal. It makes about 34 trips a day. It takes only about 20 minutes for each trip and about ten for loading and unloading cars and passenger.s.

The advanced vessel operates on a 5.7km crossing in the Sognefjord between the villages of Lavik and Oppedal. It makes approximately 34 trips a day, each trip requiring approximately 20 minutes, excluding the 10 minutes of loading and unloading time for cars and passengers.

The nation and regional Norwegian government spend about $386 million a year to operate 200 ferriesthat serve 130 routes.

Turkey provided Norway with two electric ferries in January

Tersan Shipyard in Turkey delivered two battery-powered ferries to Fjord1 in Norway just one week apart from each other. The Eidsfjord and Glopperfjord will operate in Nordfjord on the west coast of Norway.

The ferries will need to stop for only nine minutes in ports for recharging.

Mehmet Gazioglu, managing director of the Tersan shipyard said: “We are so proud to deliver these fully battery-operated ferries and honoured to be part of the first ferry connection in Norway where the road administration requires use of zero-emission technology,”

Previously published in Digital Journal