Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2025)

The Path to Zero

ENERGY STORAGE AND NEW

FUELS WORK TOGETHER AS ONE

Image courtesy Grimaldi

T ere’s an obvious fuel saving advantage, but partnering energy storage systems with new fuels brings other advantages too.

By Wendy Laursen here’s a new generation of vessels emerging which is In March, SAAM Towage and Caterpillar Marine signed exempli? ed by Grimaldi’s PCTC Grande Shang- a MoU to implement alternative power solutions including hai, claimed to reduce fuel consumption by 50% electri? cation and alternative fuels in the tug ? eet.

Tcompared to previous-generation car carriers, and the Will Watson, Caterpillar Marine’s Product Manager,

NCL Vestland, a container feeder vessel similarly claimed to says engine and battery technologies can be mutually support- reduce energy consumption per TEU per nautical mile by 63%. ive. Flexible options that include batteries and lower-carbon

What these vessels have in common is a propulsion system intensity fuels are a way to modernize assets while avoiding that combines energy storage systems and new fuels. heavy capex investments that are tied to the uncertainty around

As Henrik Helgesen, Senior Environmental Consultant the economics and availability of particular fuels. A modest at DNV, points out, the price of maritime batteries is drop- capex investment at the time of vessel construction for a hy- ping, and including them allows power systems using new brid powertrain brings greater ? exibility enabling operators to fuel engines to respond to load changes better. Batteries help make choices based on the options available at that time.

the engines to run more ef? ciently, reducing the cost of burn- Caterpillar Marine aims to have a marine lithium iron phos- ing new fuels such as methanol and ammonia. phate battery on the water by early 2026 which will be liq-

It’s a bene? t that is not restricted to cargo vessels. uid cooled, have a 1C discharge rate and a voltage of up to

Image above: The PCTC Grande Shanghai was commissioned by the Grimaldi Group from China Merchants Heavy Industries. The vessel integrates numerous green technologies: mega lithium batteries with a total power of 5 MWh, 2,500 square meters of solar panels, and cold ironing with shoreside supply of electricity where available. 12 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • October 2025

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