Page 28 - Damen Shipyards Group

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DAMEN PRODUCT DIRECTOR FERRIES, HENK

GRUNSTRA, ON DAMEN’S MOVE INTO THE

WORLD OF ELECTRIC PROPULSION FOR
MARINE-BASED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.

ELECTRIC CROSSING

The electrification of ships is no longer just a prospect for the future; electrification
is here. Right now, as part of its E-Cross Ferries programme Damen is constructing
electric ferries of all sizes, from passenger only to those able to carry vehicles. These
cutting-edge vessels feature the entire spectrum of current propulsion options –
from diesel-electric with on board power generation to fully electric using a shore-
based power source.

“This is not to say we’ve got this covered; electrification is one steep learning curve.
Electrification of ships is new, but with the E-Cross series, we’ve made a good
start,” says Damen Product Director Ferries Henk Grunstra.
Firm foundations in ferries
Certainly ferries present a good starting point – the predictable nature of their
operations, working to a regular route and schedule – allows a shipyard to tailor
the propulsion exactly to the vessel’s operational profile. This predictability is
critical for developing vessels with electric propulsion.

“During the design process for one electric ferry, the client came back to us and
said, ‘Actually, we’ve decided we want to change the route, it’s now this’,” he says
gesturing. “The change was a 31% extension of the route. So we went back to the
drawing board to see what we could do. The answer was not quite so simple as
you might imagine. The new profile required completely different batteries, in turn
requiring an almost completely different boat. It’s early days for this technology
right now. The slightest change to the plans sets off a chain reaction that can
threaten cost increases and jeopardise redundancy.”

Neither of which outcomes is much of an option. Increased costs are likely to make
electrification less popular in both public and private sectors, while redundancy is
critical in a vessel that is, essentially, a lifeline for communities, as Henk explains.
“If there’s a storm and it takes out the power, then people still need to get to
hospital.”

The predictability of a ferry operation, however, brings its own challenges.
Marine-based public transport invariably requires a customised approach. Each
operation is unique – it has its own route and its vessels their own capacity and size
requirements, for which the right-sized batteries must be selected.
“For example, we approached a project in Canada with a view to using docking
solutions we had seen successfully applied in Norway, but it turned out that they
just were not suitable for this project. Although the operations of each ferry are
predictable and routine, they are also unique to the route that they serve.”