ForSea is the shipping company that has decided to make the ocean greener. By converting two of their diesel vessels into battery-driven ones, the company can reduce C02 emissions by 65 %, which is equivalent to 23 000 tons of emissions.
During 2018, ForSea transferred more than 7 million people and about 1.9 million vehicles in the narrow strait between Sweden and Denmark. By making two old fossil fuel-driven vessels battery-driven, ForSea has managed to reduce the amount of emissions significantly and create emission-free ferries.
Bumps in the road
But it was not a smooth ride from start to finish. The company was faced with problems with legislation as well as technology. Today, ForSea has a well working system that has been copied fully or partially in the industry, and there is a great interest in the technology. The system used was developed and delivered by the Swedish engineering company ABB.
How it works
The ferries were originally built with a diesel-electric propulsion system and the old system is still intact so that the ferries can run on both diesel, hybrid or full battery mode. Batteries and other equipment have been added to the system and are placed on top of the ferries in four containers.
The batteries have a capacity of 4,1 Mwh and are charged automatically by a robot every time the ferries moors in port. The charged amount is enough for one crossing. The use of batteries does not only reduce the emissions to zero but does also imply that the use of energy is reduced by 30-40 %, due to higher efficiency of the system. On top of that, noise and vibrations are also reduced, making the trip more pleasant for the passengers as well as being part of a cleaner future.
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