McDermott: Trends in Offshore Oil & Gas - GineersNow GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 021, McD | Page 53

Ulstein Verft To Construct
The World’s Largest
Plug-In Hybrid Vessel
It has now been decided that Ulstein Verft will
be constructing Color Line’s new hybrid vessel.
“It is very gratifying that the Norwegian
shipbuilding industry has proven its
competitiveness internationally, and that Color
Line contributes to the further development of
the Norwegian maritime industry,” says CEO
Trond Kleivdal at Color Line.
“We are very pleased that Color Line decided
to proceed from a Letter of Intent to a firm
contract on the construction of this hybrid
vessel. This is an important milestone for
us, and we are looking forward to the further
cooperation with Color Line”, states CEO
Gunvor Ulstein at Ulstein Group.
Due to this contract, and the recent contract
on an offshore wind vessel for Acta, Ulstein
Verft can bring back several of the engineers
who have been on leave. The engineering
department at Ulstein Verft is now fully
manned.
Green technology
The natural environment is an accelerator to
Color Line. The vessel takes into use new
solutions to reduce noise and emissions.
The ship will be a plug-in hybrid, in which the
batteries are recharged via a power cable with
green electricity from shore facilities or, as a
secondary alternative, recharged on board by
the ship’s generators.
With shore power in Sandefjord all Norwegian
ports on Color Line’s network will have
shore power facilities. The ship will have full
battery power into and out of the fjord to
Sandefjord inner harbour. It will therefore not
give emissions of harmful greenhouse gases
or nitrogen and sulphur compounds in this
area. The 160m vessel, with the working title
“Color Hybrid”, can take on 2,000 passengers
and 500 cars. It will have almost double
capacity as M/S “Bohus”, which is scheduled
to be phased out when the new ferry will be
put into operation in summer 2019. The ship
will provide significantly increased capacity
on the route between Norway and Sweden,
and will represent expanded and improved
services on board and thus a new and better
travel experience. The new vessel will be built
according to Norwegian flag requirements
and registered in the Norwegian Ordinary Ship
Register (NOR). Color Line is currently the only
company in the international passenger and
freight traffic to and from Norway with ships
registered in the Norwegian Ship Register and
with Norwegian headquarters.
The total employment effect of the ship
construction represents approximately 950
man-labour years, according to an analysis by
MENON.
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