Page 28: of Marine News Magazine (July 2022)

27 29

Feature

Batteries

Master Boat Builders

Spartan is the ? rst of two new hybrid diesel-electric tugs built by

Master Boat Builders for Seabulk. technology and plasma chemistry, two specialty ? elds which the center says must advance in order to develop “a new generation of battery cells.”

Peter Rampen, principal research engineer with Damen, was asked how ship owners should balance questions about new technology, possibly very close at hand, versus moving ahead with current tech. He said that ship- yards today can “build safe and reli- able battery ships” using “off the shelf” technology, although that availability primarily includes ships with relatively limited demands for power and range.

Rampen cited a number of ongo- ing ship-battery challenges. He said maritime engineers have limited expe- rience with battery technologies and a limited regulatory scope requires a risk-based approach for every project.

Among R&D teams he cited a number of priority issues. To advance www.marinelink.com MN | 29