Maritime Partners announces plan for methanol-powered towboat
Maritime Partners, in cooperation with Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), e1 Marine and ABB, has announced plans to build the world’s first methanol-powered towboat.
The vessel, called Hydrogen One, will join Maritime Partners’ fleet and become available for charter in 2023.
The towboat will be powered by methanol that is mixed with water in a unit called a reformer to create hydrogen on demand. That hydrogen will run through fuel cells, creating electricity to power the towboat. Total output is equivalent to a 2,000-hp conventionally driven vessel.
“Shipowners have been understandably reluctant to commit to low-carbon fuels until the infrastructure is available to refuel their vessels,” Austin Sperry, co-founder and president of Maritime Partners, said in a prepared statement. “The M/V Hydrogen One solves that problem by using methanol, which is safe and readily available worldwide.”
More details on the project are available here.
Eastern Shipbuilding delivers Sandy Ground to Staten Island Ferry
The second ferry in the Ollis class has been delivered to the Staten Island Ferry service.
Eastern Shipbuilding announced in early December that it had completed Sandy Ground, the second of three 4,500-passenger double-ended ferries.
Propulsion on the new vessel, like the lead ferry SSG Michael H. Ollis, comes from four EMD Tier 4 engines each turning a single Voith Schneider propeller at each end of the vessel through a Reintjes combining gearset. Three Caterpillar gensets provide electrical power.
Sandy Ground is named for one of the first Black settlements in the United States, which was founded almost 200 years ago on Long Island’s South Shore. The settlement was initially home to freed slaves.
The ferry will be towed from Eastern’s Port St. Joe shipyard in Florida to New York City behind the Dann Ocean Towing vessel Sarah Dann. The voyage should last about two weeks.
For more information on the vessel, and the class’s namesake Michael H. Ollis, click here.
Hydrogen ferry Sea Change completes first bunkering, starts final trials
SWITCH Maritime announced that the world’s first hydrogen fueling of a commercial marine vessel was successfully completed on Nov. 18 at All American Marine in Bellingham, Wash.
The vessel, Sea Change, is now beginning its final sea trials before delivery.
The new 75-passenger ferry received hydrogen into its 242-kilogram tanks on the upper deck. It uses that hydrogen in fuel cells, producing electricity to power electric motors for distances up to 300 nautical miles and speeds up to 20 knots – similar capabilities as diesel-powered vessels – with the added benefits of zero exhaust smoke or other emissions and very little vibration and noise.
Click here for more details on the project.
Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding delivers LNG bunker barge
Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding has delivered Clean Canaveral, a 340-foot liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering barge, to Polaris New Energy.
The 5,500-cubic-meter vessel is the largest of its type ever built in the United States. It will soon be followed by another barge of similar size for an affiliate of Polaris New Energy as it grows its position in the domestic LNG bunkering market.
The vessel will be paired with a tugboat built by Master Boat Builders of Coden, Ala., to form an articulated tug-barge unit.
Click here for more details on the project.
Master Boat Builders, RAL partner on new hybrid tug design
Master Boat Builders, together with naval architect and marine engineering firm Robert Allan Ltd. (RAL), have developed a new battery hybrid tugboat called the ElectRA 3000-H.
This design has been developed over the past several months to suit the evolving needs of U.S. tugboat operators, the shipyard said in a news release.
“This unique hybrid tugboat design is the result of a strong and growing working relationship between Robert Allan Ltd. and Master Boat Builders, and it builds upon our recent experience constructing multiple hybrid tugboats and a battery-powered tugboat for leading maritime operators,” Garrett Rice, president of Master Boat Builders, said in a prepared statement.
More details on the vessel can be found here.
Metal Shark delivers 55-foot launch to Pascagoula pilots
Metal Shark has delivered a 55-by-17-foot welded aluminum pilot boat to the Pascagoula Bar Pilots Association in Mississippi.
The second Metal Shark pilot boat to join the Pascagoula pilots fleet, Singing River Island represents the latest evolution in the Louisiana-based builder’s growing Defiant-class pilot boat lineup.
Designed by Metal Shark’s in-house engineering team and built at the company’s Franklin, La., shipyard, the new 55 Defiant pilot boat combines a proven hull form with a modern, crew-friendly arrangement, the shipyard said in a news release.
Click here for more details on the project.
