Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2022)

Leading O?

EYE ON DESIGN

A look at new, innovative vessel designs and concepts

Northern Xplorer • ROBOSHIP Biomass Fuel Carrier • LPG/NH3 Gas Carrier • Electric Ferry e5 Lab & Mitsubishi team to design the

ROBOSHIP Biomass

Fuel Carrier.

e5 Lab Inc. and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.

he pace of innovation in the global high-performance twin skeg ship design should lower propul- maritime sector continues as breakneck speed, sion horsepower by more than 20%, reducing CO2 emissions driven by strict new emission mandates putting the during cruising, and allowing the ship to navigate completely

CO2-free during port operations The generators are capable

Tcommercial industry on the long, arduous road to- ward decarbonization. Watch this space for regular coverage of switching between fuels including lique? ed natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, ammonia, biofuel, and synthetic fuel, al- of the most interesting ship and boat design concepts.

Japan’s e5 Lab Inc. and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., lowing all operations, including navigation, to be CO2-free.

After delivery in April 2023, the ship is expected to operate as

Ltd., designed ROBOSHIP, a standard hybrid electric propul- sion vessel to serve as a 499-ton biomass fuel carrier to be a biomass carrier for Aioi Bioenergy Corporation.

Northern Xplorer AS (NX) announced its zero-emission, built by Honda Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. ROBOSHIP will be designed to use a standard system package comprising the luxury cruise concept, designed to feature ‘clean’ technologies including fully electric propulsion, battery energy storage, hardware for electric propulsion, including propellers, mo- tors, switchboards, storage batteries, and generators, together hydrogen fuel cells and auxiliary renewable energy supply with the software to control this equipment; a system able to (wind and solar power). The concept is the brainchild of Rolf

André Sandvik, founder and CEO, who previously founded handle a cargo ship of up to around 749 tons. The ship fore- goes conventional diesel engines in favor of a hybrid system travel company The Fjords, based in Flåm in western Norway, of large-capacity storage batteries and generators to drive the where as CEO he ushered in a new era of environmentally propulsion motors. The adoption of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding’s friendly sightseeing, commissioning the hybrid electric ves- 8 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • January 2022

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