Finland to buy Europe’s second electric hybrid ferry, made in Gdynia

CRIST shipyard in Gdynia will construct a ferry powered by hybrid batteries that can be recharged in just 7 minutes for Finferries. This will be the second ferry of its kind in Europe.

The first electric ferry has been in use in Norway, on the line Lavik – Oppedal, since January. It is equipped with two electric motors powered by lithium-ion batteries. Two Polish companies had their share in the construction – the ferry project was developed by the Nelton company from Pruszcz Gdański, and the hull by the Gdańsk shipyard Aluship.

Another electric ferry is now to be built for a Finnish carrier called Finferries. In summer 2017 the ferry will start to run between Parainen – municipality covering a number of islands in the Archipelago Sea, and the municipality of Nauvo.

Finferries sent invitations to a tender to 20 shipyards in Europe, and finally selected the offer of Gdynia’s CRIST S.A., the agreement for the construction of the ferry was signed last Thursday.

We chose CRIST because of the competitive price and the ability to deliver the best quality ship – says Mats Rosin at Finferries. – In contrast, Siemens (which will be the supplier of the new technology) is a company that has extensive experience and a very good reputation regarding similar applications on Norwegian ships.

The ferry called P310 will take up to 90 cars and 372 passengers. The crew will consist of only 3 people. It’s going to be 96.35 meters long, 15.2 meters wide and 5 meters tall. The ferry will be powered by both a diesel engine and electric batteries with a 10-year life span that charge during loading and unloading the ferry in about 7 minutes. Implementation of the project will take about 18 months.

It is also important that we do not only construct the hull, with the help of our partners we will also fully equip the unit – sayts Monika Malec from the marketing department at CRIST.

Electric drive is the future, it will certainly be more and more popular. And that’s because it is an ecological solution, which in maritime transport are used more and more frequently. It is also about economics – electric drive is much cheaper to operate than traditional drives – diesel, and even LNG (liquid natural gas).

Mateusz Kowalewski from the GospodarkaMorska.pl portal comments:

Monika Malec adds:

In view of the large amount of ferry traffic and high importance attached by governments and local councils to the protection of the environment, we expect a growing interest in the construction of similar designs and subsequent orders for ships such as the double-ended ferry.

CRIST Shipyard is one of the largest Polish shipyards. During twenty-five years of activity CRIST has achieved the position of one of the leading producers of specialised shipbuilding equipment in segments of hydraulic equipment and vessels for the world’s largest recipients. Quality of services and production potential of CRIST has gained recognition among ship owners, which is proven by new contracts filling the order backlog for 2016.

The shipyard focuses its development on the offshore market and the construction of specialised vessels and structures to support not only wind farms, but also drilling platforms and other installations for the maritime industry. Its shareholders are the founders – Ireneusz Ćwirko and Krzysztof Kulczycki, and a member of the Industrial Development Agency – MARS FIZ Investment Fund.



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