New super vessels for P & O Ferries
The affiliate of DP World, P & O Ferries, is banking on new equipment. The company has signed a contract with Guangzhou Shipyard International worth EUR 260 million to deliver a new generation of ships on the English Channel.
Two new 230-m "super-ferries" – the largest ever to sail between Dover and Calais – will be operational by 2023, with options to build two further vessels by 2024. Thus, P&O Ferries wants to secure its position in the transport of people and goods between Britain and the Continent. Alternative energy policies are part of the prototypes.
The vessels will run on a combination of fuel and battery propulsion, surplus energy generated by the engines will be stored in the battery. This will enable the engines to be run at the optimum level 85% of the time. Furthermore, the ships are designed with the capacity to be carbon neutral in the future on the twin assumptions that there are more electric shore charging stations in ports and batteries. (fd)