2023-12-18 07:15:00
The Chinese company Cosco has put into operation its first all-electric cargo ship. A container ship named N997 sailed the Yangtze River for the first time.
Open source image
The cargo ship is almost 120 meters long and 24 meters wide. It weighs 10,000 tons but has a draft of only regarding 5.5 meters. This is done so that the ship can also navigate the shallow waters of the Yangtze. The container ship can be loaded with 700 TEU, that is, 700 20-foot standard containers. N997 had to cover more than 900 kilometers. This requires a powerful battery.
It is reported that the ship has the most powerful battery. The battery system consists of 36 replaceable batteries in containers, which are replaced along the more than 900 km route. They are recharged at port stops and then ready for the ship’s next voyage.
The electric container ship has an intelligent control system. The system is able to adapt energy consumption to the needs of the ship. The speed is selected depending on the arrival time, water consumption and remaining battery capacity. This is necessary to ensure maximum efficiency.
N997 was launched back in the summer at a shipyard in Yangzhou, a city in eastern China. Assembly in dry dock began in March 2023.
A second ship of the same class should be built soon. Work on the N998 began in May and will be used by Shanghai Pan Asia Shipping, a subsidiary of COSCO, on the Yangtze River to transport goods from Shanghai to Wuhan.
The N997 is not the first operational electric container ship. There is also an electric cargo ship, the Yara Birkeland, which has been sailing along the Norwegian coast since 2021.
Conventional liquid fuel container ships are major polluters, accounting for 3% to 4% of global emissions. Therefore, the international shipping organization wants to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050 compared to 2008.
Electrically powered cargo ships are likely to play a decisive role in this. According to a 2022 study, 40% of all cargo ships might be powered by electricity in the next 10 years thanks to innovative battery technologies.
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