Wallenius Sol’s multi-fuel vessel Botnia Enabler was christened in the Port of Skellefteå, Sweden, last week.
The vessel has been described as the world’s biggest ice-rated ConRo vessel, spanning 242 meters in length overall and 35.2 meters in beam. The 28,000 DWT vessel has a cargo capacity of 6,442 lane meters and can achieve a speed of 20 knots. Botnia Enabler is fitted with engines that can run on LNG, liquified biogas , diesel, and synthetic diesel.
The company said that LNG would be used as a transitional fuel until biofuels become more widely available.
“LNG will have to be a step on the road toward the biofuels for which our ships are ready, but the production of such alternatives is currently too low at present. The ships are also prepared for what is known as peak shaving, where surplus power from the engines is used to charge a battery. We’ve prepared space, wiring and ventilation, and the only thing missing is the battery itself. The idea here is to use power from the battery, e.g. for manoeuvring the ship in port,” says Martin Carlweitz , who works with operations in Liner Service at Wallenius Sol.
According to Wallenius Sol, the vessel’s fuel consumption is 57 percent lower per transported unit and it produces 63 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions per transported unit when compared to the company’s current fleet units. The comparison was done by the Independent Swedish Environmental Institute using the RoRo ship Thuleland.
The ship’s higher energy efficiency was achieved partly through the hydrodynamic characteristics of the hull and partly due to the ability of the designers to keep the weight down.
Environmental benefits of the new vessel
“ The ship sails under the Swedish flag and we are a Swedish company, so we were keen to christen her in Sweden. We began calling at Skellefteå regularly last year, so it seemed natural to carry out the ceremony here as a tribute to the magnificent industrial investments in the north,” managing director Ragnar Johansson , said.
“We have promised to deliver a sustainable infrastructure for northern Sweden and Finland. Now we have kept that promise,” concluded Wallenius Sol’s board chairman Anders Boman .
Botnia Enabler will share the Zeebrugge-Antwerp-Kokkola-Oulu-Kemi-Skellefteå-Travemünde route with her sister ship, Baltic Enabler. This means weekly calls with a total capacity of 6,442 lane metres (962 TEU) where trailers, containers, industrial freight and project freight will rub shoulders.
The vessel, together with its sister ship Baltic Enabler, was built at the CIMC Raffles shipyard in China, where the project was led by Wallenius Marine. The vessels were designed by Danish marine consultancy Knud E. Hansen . Wallenius Sol shipping company is a venture formed by Swedish concerns Wallenius Lines and Svenska Orient Linien.