Laurels for a green newbuilding
The ‘Auto Advance’, the Norwegian shipping line UECC’s first multi-fuel LNG battery hybrid PCTC, recently won the ‘Shippax Ro-Ro Technology & Environment Award’.
The accolade, a trade award combining the ro-ro, ferry and cruise industries, was awarded at a ceremony that formed a part of the Shippax Ferry Conference, held on the cruise ship ‘Silja Symphony’ and attended by around 220 companies from the sector.
The citation hailed the ‘Auto Advance’ as “a big step forward for eco-friendly ro-ro operations, and at the same time an extremely flexible vessel conceived to be run on other new fuels in the future”. Its battery element contributes to reducing emissions even more than when it runs purely on LNG, an approach which has the potential to be used for other ro-ro newbuildings as well, the company stated.
According to UECC, LNG battery hybrid technology, together with an optimised hull design for better fuel efficiency, will enable these newbuildings to exceed the IMO requirement to cut carbon intensity by 40% from 2008 levels by 2030. (sh)