Scandlines purchases plug-in hybrid systems from Wärtsilä
Last year, Scandlines announced that two of the four passenger-ferries on the Puttgarden – Rødby route would be converted to plug-in hybrid ferries. Puttgarden is located on the northern German island of Fehmarn, while the port of Rødby is on the Danish island of Lolland. Following a tender process with five applicants, Finnish company Wärtsilä was selected as the technology supplier for converting both 142-metre-long Scandlines ferries ‘Schleswig-Holstein’ and ‘Deutschland.’
According to an accompanying press release, Wärtsilä will supply the system, supervise the installation on board, and be responsible for commissioning. The retrofitting work on the ferries will begin in August 2025.
Specifically, the two ships will be equipped with a 5 MWh storage system instead of their diesel generator and an unspecified propulsion system that will guarantee a service speed of 18.5 knots. The ferries will always be recharged for around 12 minutes at both harbours. After the conversion, around 80 per cent of the energy required for a crossing will be electric.
Scandlines estimates that the project will cost 31 million euros. The German Federal Ministry of Transport will cover up to 40 per cent of the conversion costs as part of a funding programme for the sustainable modernisation of coastal vessels (NaMKü).
“We are so pleased to have the most important supplier in place, and we are very much looking forward to working with Wärtsilä and getting started with the conversion. With the plug-in hybrid ferries, we can get even closer to our goal of operating the PuttgardenRødby route emission-free by 2030,” says Scandlines’ CEO Michael Guldmann Petersen.
“Ship electrification is one of the solutions for marine decarbonisation and as the world’s biggest conversion project of its kind, we can help Scandlines move closer to meeting their goal of making the route emission-free by 2030,” comments Roger Holm, President of Wärtsilä Marine and Executive Vice President at Wärtsilä Corporation.”
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