All good things come from above
The HGK Shipping vessel ’Helios’, 135 m long and 11.5 m wide and just named in June, seems a barge like any other inland waterway ship. Yet it has a power station on board that has now earned it an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
The 5,570 m3 cargo hold of the dry cargo vessel Helios, named after the Greek sun god, is spanned by 27 Blommaert hatches fitted with solar panels made by Wattlab. They generate 90 MWh of electricity per year for on-board operations on the Helios.
This can save up to 90 t of CO2 a year – more than any other inland vessel now in service in the world. This record was confirmed by Carl Saville of Guinness World Records Limited, which awards the coveted certificates, at an official event held in the port of Rotterdam in September.
On the occasion, Steffen Bauer, CEO of HGK Shipping, made it clear that “we need to look at how we promote climate protection and the use of renewable energies as a society as a whole, not only those of us working here in the logistics industry. The power of the sun provides an ideal starting point for this, which we’ve consistently pursued whilst designing this ship.”
Reduce consumption and emissions
The joint design created in teamwork by the three companies shows how innovation and sustainability can go hand in hand to technologically advance and mature the inland shipping industry.
Bo Salet, the co-founder and CEO of Wattlab, agreed wholeheartedly. “Developing and installing solar panels on the Helios is an example of how technology can contribute to making inland shipping, which already goes rather easy on the environment, even more resource-efficient.”
Tom Blommaert, the chief executive officer of Blommaert Aluminium, in turn, pointed out that solar hatches are an alternative to current approaches to reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Success reinforces his belief that they’ll further unleash their potential in inland waterway transport in future.