Norway: Hydrogen-fuelled Ferry Ready by 2021

by Ship & Bunker News Team

Ferry in Norwegian waters. File image/Pixabay.

Norwegian ferry operator Norled plans to introduce its hydrogen-fuelled ferry into the domestic ferry market in 2021, the company has said.

Speaking at the Interferry innovation conference, business development manager Kjell Ove Hatlem described the project as 'the next industry game-changer'.

"By 2022, we will have 72 electric siblings," Hatlem said.

"The green shift is already there for short routes but not for longer distances. We think liquid hydrogen from clean sources such as wind, water or solar power will be the way."

Hatlem predicted it would be three or four years before Norway had its own hydrogen production and bunkering infrastructure. Until then, fuel would be imported from France or Germany by truck or sea.

"It's one of the challenges but there is a very good partnership between our government and private companies," he said. "The government has set zero emissions as the criteria and provides funding and contract incentives to help achieve it."

The conference heard that the drive train for the hydrogen-powered ferry project, the European Union-sponsored HySeas III consortium, is set to be assembled and tested on land, possibly next February.