On 11th July 2018 Remontowa Shipbuilding signed a contract for the construction of two Double Ended Diesel Electric Hybrid ferries for Norled (yard nos. B619/1-2).
Norled is one of the leading Norwegian ferry operators. The company was formerly known as Tide Sjø and has been conducting its activities under the current name since 2012. Norled’s fleet consists of abt. 80 ferries of which 6 have been built at Remontowa Shipbuilding. Among these are Ryfylke and Hardanger, both delivered in 2013, which are the first two vessels in the world not carrying Diesel at all – the main fuel is LNG while CNG (stored in bottles on the open deck) is used in case of emergency.
The new ferries will mark yet another step on Norled’s path towards green future. They will be equipped with an innovative and highly efficient Diesel Electric Hybrid system. In normal operation the entire required power will be taken from two battery packs installed on board. The batteries will be recharged from the land grid during the vessels stay at quay which will typically be abt. 11 minutes. A fast charging solution of pantograph or plug-in type will therefore be used in order to ensure that the required state of charge of the batteries is maintained. The shore charging system will be integrated with an automatic mooring system (of vacuum or magnetic type) holding the ferries when at quay and giving the “green light” for the charging process to start. The intention is to use the generating sets that the vessels will be equipped with (running on 100% Biodiesel), only in case of emergency. The electric system will be, however, prepared to operate them alongside batteries, e.g. in peak shaving mode.
The new ferries will service the Festøya-Solavågen connection. They will be 114,4m long, 17,7m wide and capable of taking on board up to 120 personal cars and 296 passengers. The equipment on board will be selected based on maximum efficiency criteria. A good example are the thrusters which will be pulling type units with integrated Permanent Magnet motors ensuring high efficiency even at very low loads.
The ferries will be built according to LMG 120-DEH design developed by LMG Marin who will also deliver the complete Class documentation. They will comply with the rules and regulations of DNVGL and Norwegian Maritime Administration and will be delivered in the Fourth Quarter of 2019.
With this order, coming from a returning Customer, Remontowa Shipbuilding proves its reliability, experience and strong position in the RoPax ferry market – qualities that are additionally supported by the impressive number of 23 ferries delivered over the last decade (with 2 more being currently under construction).