Swedish roll on/roll off cargo and passenger vessel supplier Stena RoRo has taken delivery of hybrid ship Guillaume de Normandie from the Chinese shipyard CMI Jinling (Weihai), which it has long-term chartered to the French shipping company Brittany Ferries.
The vessel will be powered by multi-fuel engines as well as a 12 MWh hybrid package, allowing it to operate at speeds of up to 17.5 knots on batteries. The Guillaume de Normandie will be able to operate in and out of port solely on battery power and maneuver when docking and undocking without using the ship’s diesel engines. The vessel is also equipped with an 8 MW shore connection for high-speed charging.
The engines can be powered by marine diesel (MGO), liquefied natural gas (LNG), biodiesel or biogas. The PTI/PTO system with the Battery Power function can be used for propulsion at sea or maneuvering in port. The system is scalable so that in the future the ship can operate entirely on batteries or with a combination of fuels.
The ship will enter service on the Portsmouth-Caen route in April, replacing the vessel Normandie, which has sailed the route since 1992. The E-Flexer ship is the 12th in a series of 15 vessels that Stena RoRo has ordered from the Chinese shipyard and the fifth of five ordered for Brittany Ferries.
The vessel is certified for 1,300 passengers along with 2,410 lane-meters of cargo, of which 176 lane-meters are for personal cars.
“Within the framework of the E-Flexer concept, there has been continuous technical development and we can offer our customers flexible and future-proof propulsion systems that meet both today’s and future environmental requirements by a wide margin,” said Stena RoRo Managing Director Per Westling. “The large battery hybrid system we installed on the Guillaume de Normandie means that the ship can operate optimally, in step with regulatory developments, or in accordance with the operator’s own policies.”
Source: Stena RoRo
