A Dutch company developing a fleet of 10 zero-emission inland container and shortsea ships has linked up with a European innovation project as it starts to retrofit a second vessel to more powerful green hydrogen fuel cells.
Future Proof Shipping (FPS) has joined the Flagships consortium as it sets about converting a 200-teu vessel, the FPS Waal, to fuel cells that can handle high energy consumption rates on the Rotterdam to Duisburg section of the Rhine.
“We are deploying our second zero-emissions vessel here to help decarbonise this busy stretch of 240-km inland waterway. This route is longer and has significantly higher and varying power demands than the route for the FPS Maas,” said FPS chief executive Richard Klatten, referring to its first ship.
The 110-metre-long FPS Waal will have PEM fuel cells, hydrogen storage, battery packs and an electric drive train installed, with a total power capacity of about 1,200 kW. The fuel cell system on the Maas has a capacity of 825 kW.
During the Waal retrofit, the internal combustion engine will be removed and the new zero-emissions propulsion system installed.
The new vessel is expected to be sailing on green hydrogen by summer 2023, and FPS hopes to develop its 10-ship fleet for charter over the next five years.
It will work with Flagships’ members fuel cell technology expert Ballard Europe, ship design company LMG Marin and project coordinator VTT over coming months on the Waal conversion.
The consortium aims to raise the readiness of zero-emission waterborne transport to higher levels by deploying commercially operated vessels.
“The demand for more sustainable technologies in inland waterway transport is on the rise. With FPS joining us, we have two groundbreaking vessels as part of the Flagships project,” said project co-ordinator Jyrki Mikkola from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
FPS said it has been talking to several cargo owners that want to move a large part of their sea cargo to inland water transport and are interested in shipping containers without emissions on Rhine routes.
