The world's first catamaran with fossil-free hydrogen as fuel and water vapor as emissions will in the future make traffic between Gotland and the mainland both faster and climate-neutral. This is the hope of Gotlandsbolaget, which is aiming for orders in the billions and traffic start no later than 2030.
”"We have operated traffic between Gotland and the mainland since the 1860s and now we are working hard to take the next big step. The goal is both to make the traffic completely climate neutral and at the same time bring Gotland even closer to the mainland by shortening the crossing time even more," says Håkan Johansson, CEO of Gotlandsbolaget.
But in the shadow of the economic blow, the shipping company is in the process of planning a major investment in a completely new and in-house developed generation of ships.
Next big news is called Gotland Hydrocat. It is the name of a new concept for a large, hydrogen-powered catamaran. The new model has been developed in collaboration with Austal, an Australian shipyard, among others. It is intended to be 130 meters long and be able to transport 1,650 passengers and 450 cars.
”"It is what we know is unique and the world's first large-scale, fast catamaran with fossil-free hydrogen propulsion. With a speed of up to around 35 knots, we expect the catamaran to be able to shorten the crossing time by another almost 30 minutes to well under 3 hours," says Håkan Johansson.
The new catamaran is the second vessel in the company's new generation of more environmentally friendly vessels. The first, Gotland Horizon, was presented in 2021 and is a concept for a fast ropax ferry.
”"Both concepts are designed to be powered by fossil-free hydrogen and water vapor as emissions. It is a fantastic step forward for shipping, which has so far lagged behind in terms of both climate and other environmentally harmful emissions," says Håkan Johansson.
But access to hydrogen is still limited and both ship models are being developed to be able to run on other fossil-free fuels, such as liquid biogas or renewable methanol.
”"But we have hopes of being able to produce renewable hydrogen here on Gotland using electricity from a new large-scale offshore wind farm called Aurora, which OX2 has applied for. At the same time, we have become a partner in Plagazi, which produces hydrogen through the gasification of hazardous waste," says Håkan Johansson.
The work on developing the technology for the two new hydrogen-powered ship concepts will now continue.
”"No decisions have been made. But our goal is to be able to order at least one new ship or catamaran in our new series by 2025 and for it to be put into service by 2030," says Håkan Johansson, adding that in that case it would involve an investment of around SEK 1.5 billion each.
Source: DI.SE
