Imoto Lines plans a zero-emission ship that uses swappable batteries
Written by Nick Blenkey
Image: Imoto Lines
Japanese coastal containership operator Imoto Lines and maritime software company Marindows have launched a zero emission ship project. The vessel will use containerized swappable batteries, in combination with onboard storage batteries, and generators, to create a next-generation system that enables both hybrid operation and extended zero-emission operations .
The containerized swappable batteries will be recharged on shore using renewable energy. As the batteries store renewable energy, Imoto Lines says that they “achieve ‘complete zero-emission’ CO2 output over the entire lifecycle from fuel mining and manufacturing to usage, not just during operation.”
Scheduled to be in operation by 2026, the 499 gt ship will be built by Miura Shipbuilding and will measure 81 meters long by 13.5 meters beam. It will have a capacity of about 200 TEU and will have a 2 x 360 kW propulsion power.
According to Imoto Lines and Marindows, its range will be 2,700 miles in hybrid operations and 180 miles in zero-emission operations using five of the 20-foot swappable container storage batteries.The zero-emission range can be extended using additional swappable batteries.
Adopted by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment’s “Carbon Neutral Technology Research and Development Program,” the project addresses three major challenges facing the Japanese domestic shipping industry: decarbonization, crew shortage, and safe navigation, and looks to achieve cost competitiveness through standardization.
Imoto Lines says that the domestic shipping industry needs a fundamental solution to the dual shortages of crew numbers and crew skills and that the ship will achieve safe and efficient navigation with fewer people and with less skill/experience required through electrification, thorough standardization and modularization, and land-based support assuming standardization.
Established in 1973, Imoto Lines is a pioneer in Japan’s coastal container shipping industry offering an array of domestic feeder services and claiming a 60% market share in the segment.
- More on the project HERE
Categories: Environment, News
