Battleangel

Swedish / Norwegian shipping and RoRo specialists Wallenius Wilhelmsen unveiled plans for a new type of ‘zero emissions’ carrier a couple of weeks ago.

Intended to provide a vision of what an environmentally-friendly car and RoRo carrier might look like in 2025, the E/S Orcelle concept vessel has been designed so that it will produce no emissions into either the air or sea. It can use renewable energy sources, including the sun, wind and waves, as well as fuel cell technology, to meet all propulsion and onboard power requirements.

Solar energy is harnessed through photovoltaic panels in the vessel’s three sails, which also help propel the vessel using wind power. These sails are manufactured using special lightweight composite materials.

Wave power is utilised through a series of 12 fins, which will be able to transform wave energy into hydrogen, electricity or mechanical energy. The fins double as propulsion units, driven either by wave energy or other renewable energy sources onboard, while the vessel’s propulsive power will also be provided by two variable-speed electric propulsion systems known as ‘pods’.

Around half the energy on the E/S Orcelle will be produced by fuel cells, a rapidly developing new technology. These cells will combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate the electricity which will be used in the pod propulsion systems and the fins, while also producing electricity for other uses onboard. The only by-products from this process are water vapour and heat, Wallenius Wilhelmsen points out.

Cargo carrying capacity has also been optimised, so that this visionary design could carry approximately 10,000 cars - around 50 per cent more than today’s car carriers - while having a similar weight in tonnage terms. This increased level of efficiency has been achieved through the use of lightweight materials, including aluminium and thermoplastic composites, and also by eliminating the need for ballast water tanks.

According to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), ballast water is one of the main environmental threats to the world’s oceans. Wallenius Wilhelmsen proposes to completely eliminate the need to take on, and release, ballast water, by using an innovative pentamaran hull - featuring a long and slender main hull and four supporting sponsons - as well as by a pod-type electric propulsion system that dispenses with the traditional stern propeller and rudder arrangement.

Source: Wallenius Wilhelmsen

Conceptual imagery available over at Fuel Cell Today.