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The idea is that the lithium-ion batteries are recharged while the ship is at sea .
Founded in 1947 , the Finnish shipping company Finnlines Plc . is today part of the Italian-based Grimaldi Group SpA . Finnlines has subsidiaries or sales offices in Germany , Belgium , Great Britain , Sweden , Denmark , Norway , and Poland . The company operates ro-ro and passenger services in the Baltic Sea , the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay areas .
The three Finneco hybrid ro-ro vessels currently being delivered are part of a larger series of twelve hybrid ships ordered by Grimaldi Group and built by the Jinling shipyard in China .
” All of those vessels will be largely similar , except that the six Grimaldi ships that will operate in the Mediterranean region are equipped with one additional deck ,” says Mr . Juha Ahia , Naval Architect and Project Manager , Newbuildings at Finnlines Plc .
M / S Finneco I will commence operations on the Bay of Biscay lines , particularly the cargo route between Kotka in Finland and Bilbao in Spain .
” The ship is suitable for carrying versatile ro-ro and project cargo , plus various other export goods , such as paper industry products . Return cargo might typically consist of motor vehicles ,” Mr . Ahia specifies .
The three Finneco ships were designed by Messrs . Knud E . Hansen from Denmark . Between themselves , all three Finnlines ’ ships are identical . Knud E . Hansen also developed the hybrid ro-ro ship concept that was utilised for the entire series .
ECO-FRIENDLY PROPULSION
In the design work , one of the key targets was to make the ships very environmentally-friendly . The classification society Rina has assigned an additional class notation ‘ Green Plus ’ for Finneco I ’ s environmental performance .
” Our aim is to make our new ships more ecological than the vessels of previous generations . For this purpose , largersized ships and onboard lithium-ion battery banks are helpful ,” Mr . Ahia notes .
According to him , the Finneco vessels come with air lubrication in addition to a state-of-art integrated propeller-rudder system and modern hull lines that have been designed for better hydrodynamics .
The vessels are equipped with MAN ’ s modern two-stroke main engines having a lower specific fuel consumption than four-stroke engines . Consequently , they will produce less CO 2 and other emissions . The two 12,780 kW engines will yield a service speed of 20.7 knots .
Complementing the oil-fuelled engines , the battery banks of 5 MW will save fuel and reduce emissions .
” The idea is that the lithium-ion batteries are recharged while the ship is at sea . At the port , it will not be necessary to use the ship ’ s auxiliary engines . This enables zero-emission operations in port ,” explains Ahia .
REDUCED EMISSIONS
Furthermore , an exhaust gas cleaning system will cut air emissions and reduce harmful particles . The Finneco ships will be equipped with SOx emission control technology .
Finnlines has invested in eco-friendly Langh Tec scrubbers to comply with existing and future SOx emission regulations . Open loop scrubbers remove SOx from the exhaust by utilising the natural alkalinity in seawater .
Seawater is sprayed on the exhaust , and the SOx in the exhaust reacts with
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