18 February 2018: Writing from the Winter headquarters (finally) where it's sunny and 80F with a lovely breeze.... Apologies for mentioning it to those readers putting on snow boots and heavy coats.....
So today, some interesting news from the British Guardian on a Dutch innovation in cargo transport.
World's first electric container barges to sail from
European ports this summer
The world’s first fully electric, emission-free and potentially crewless
container barges are to operate from the ports of Antwerp, Amsterdam, and
Rotterdam from this summer.
The vessels, designed to fit beneath bridges as they transport their goods
around the inland waterways of Belgium and the
Netherlands,
are expected to vastly reduce the use of diesel-powered trucks for moving
freight.
Dubbed the “Tesla of the canals”, their electric motors will be driven by
20-foot batteries, charged on shore by the carbon-free energy provider Eneco.
The barges are designed to operate without any crew, although the vessels
will be manned in their first period of operation as new infrastructure is
erected around some of the busiest inland waterways in
Europe.
In August, five barges - 52 metres long and 6.7m wide, and able to carry 24
20ft containers weighing up to 425 tonnes - will be in operation. They will be
fitted with a power box giving them 15 hours of power. As there is no need for
a traditional engine room, the boats have up to 8% extra space, according to
their Dutch manufacturer, Port Liner.
About 23,000 trucks, mainly running on diesel, are expected to be removed
from the roads as a result.
At a later date, six larger 110m-long barges, carrying 270 containers, will
run on four battery boxes capable of providing 35 hours of autonomous driving.
Their use alone could lead to a reduction of about 18,000 tonnes per year of
CO2, it is claimed.
According to the latest statistics
from Eurostat, 74.9% of freight in the EU is transported by road, compared to
18.4% by rail, and 6.7% along inland waterways, although the use of water
routes has been rising.
The barges are being developed in
the Netherlands with €7m in subsidies from the EU and additional funds from the
ports involved. Port Liner believes it could produce about 500 barges a year to
revolutionise the freight industry, although the electric motors and batteries
could also be retrofitted into older boats.
The company’s chief executive, Ton
van Meegen, told shipping industry trade journal the Loadstar that the barges
would be the first in the world to sail on carbon-neutral batteries and that
only the low bridges in the low countries prevented them from being loaded with
more goods.
How's that for energy saving, pollution cutting, labor saving innovation?
Until next time,
Fair Winds,
Old salt
PS - Maritime Maunder has now passed 72,000 readers worldwide! WOW and thank you all!
