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Bodewes Binnenvaart B.V., Damen Shipyards Group’s inland waterway shipyard, and inland shipping company QaGroup are set to launch an inland shipping concept, which they believe will set a new industry standard in inland shipping. A key part of the concept is the idea of a ship fuelled solely by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Both companies have combined their knowledge as regards the design and operation of the vessel. Together they now offer a full package to customers, which includes ship design, shipbuilding, ship management, leasing, financing arrangements and highly trained crews working to internationally recognized quality standards.

Rob Schuurmans, Director of Bodewes Binnenvaart and Jan Sneekes, QaGroup CEO commented: “We deliver our customer’s products from A to Z in accordance to their standards and their specific product requirements in the most environmentally friendly and safe manner possible. Because this concept is built up on a modular basis, shippers, and barge operators can pick and choose. For example, we can provide the vessel including crew for one client, but just a financing arrangement for another, while handling all for a third client. We can tailor the concept to the customer’s exact requirements. This concept provides an integrated shipbuilding, ship management and financing solution.”

A vessel running purely LNG lies at the heart of the concept. The permission to use LNG as fuel on this vessel has been granted by the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ADN-UNECE), meaning that the vessel can travel on all the international inland waterways.

The LNG concept operates alongside another innovation developed by Bodewes Binnenvaart: the air lubricated hull ‘ACES’. "Working in combination, these innovations lead to astonishing fuel savings and emissions cuts," Bodewes Binnenvaart said.

The two Dutch companies originally met four years ago. Bodewes Binnenvaart was at that time starting to develop a low emissions concept for inland waterway shipping and QaGroup was exploring using LNG as an alternative fuel. Bodewes Binnenvaart was also working on ACES and the first results had just been recorded at Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).

Both firms discovered that their systems had the same aim of saving fuel, costs and reducing emissions. As a result they decided to combine the two solutions into one pioneering design in order to create a stronger overall concept.

“We expect this new concept to appeal to shippers of consumables particularly, oil companies and logistic operators keen to get their cargo off the roads and keen on having one partner, one contact to deal with,” said Bodewes Binnenvaart.

Sophisticated power management

Although the LNG/ACES system can be fitted to any inland ship, currently the system has been designed around a 110-metre long vessel, the EcoLiner, which is based on the well-known Damen River Liner 1145. The new vessel has a bunker capacity of approximately 45 cbm LNG and is due to be fully classified by Bureau Veritas.

The vessel is equipped with four generator sets, which power all of the consumers via the comprehensive power management system. The power management system ensures efficient energy generation, distribution and storage. For example, there is more power needed going upriver from Rotterdam to Basle than on the return, so the management system will automatically switch the generator sets on and off.

Schuurmans commented: “A typical ship engine runs most efficient at a load of 80% of its full power. With four generator sets the power management system will ensure the engines do so. Energy created can be stored when using less power or instead it can be used to heat or cool the cargo or for cooling water or heating accommodation. In addition, waste heat is used and becomes energy, so absolutely nothing is wasted. On top of this, there’s the 15% fuel reduction because of the ACES hull.”

Extensive trials are said to have shown that fuel savings of around 25% can be realised on the EcoLiner.

Guaranteed uptime

The concept is said to provide reliability and guaranteed maximum uptime. The separate generators means that there is built in redundancy and the LNG vessel also comes with a Damen full service contract, which guarantees maximum uptime and service 365 days a year. Damen engineers can carry out maintenance while the vessel is continuing to do its job.

The partners are already exploring markets in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, but they are also going further afield to Brazil, China and India and say they have received a very positive response worldwide from leading shippers and barge companies.

“This gives shippers the chance to operate along “green corridors” and to reduce their total cost of ownership because ultimately they can make huge savings on transport costs.

“We want to change the market. This is an innovative, safe, environmentally friendly and extremely cost competitive concept. There is no reason why it cannot be the inland shipping industry standard for the future,” the Dutch partners said.