Cemre Shipyard: New battery-powered ferry sets sail for Denmark

Danish ferry operator Molslinjen has taken delivery of a new battery-powered RoRo passenger ferry built by Turkish shipbuilder Cemre Shipyard.

The newbuild zero-emission ferry Nerthus was handed over to Molslinjen on May 17 and began its journey to Denmark, the shipbuilder revealed in a social media update.

Designed by Danish maritime consultancy and engineering firm OSK-ShipTech, Nerthus is one of two double-ended 11.6-meter-long ferries ordered by Molslinjen in 2022.

The ferry was optimized for the Ballen-Kalundborg route and complies with the autonomous functionality BV notations, including auto-crossing and auto-docking operations, allowing for optimized operation and increased energy efficiency.

The vessel is equipped with four steerable thrusters, which are driven by electrical permanent magnet motors, and four backup generators, each of 493 ekW fueled by hydrogenated vegetable oil.

According to Moslinjen, during the ferry’s usual operations, only the battery system will supply the required power by complying with the zero-emission concept.

In addition to battery-powered ferries, in 2023, the Danish company welcomed into its fleet an LNG-ready high-speed vehicle-passenger ferry, Express 5, built by Austal Philippines.