Scandlines selects supplier for electrification of plug-in hybrid ferries

Scandlines has contracted Wärtsilä to supply the electrical systems for the Puttgarden-Rødby ferries to ensure that electricity contributes about 80% of the energy needed for a crossing.

Wärtsilä’s electrical systems

After a competitive tender process with several suppliers, Scandlines chose Wärtsilä as the supplier of the electrical systems for the Scandlines hybrid ferries Schleswig-Holstein and Deutschland. In addition to supplying the actual systems, Wärtsilä will supervise the installation and be responsible for commissioning them.

Plug-in hybrid ferries

The partnership forms part of the initiative that the ferry operator announced at the end of 2023. This outlined that two out of the four passenger ferries on the Puttgarden-Rødby route would be converted to plug-in hybrid ferries, where electricity will contribute about 80% of the energy needed for a crossing.

The conversion of the ferries is scheduled to start in the second half of 2025. A diesel generator will be removed and replaced by a 5MWh energy storage system. The German Ministry of Transport will support the €31m (US$26m) project financially as part of a funding program covering the sustainable modernization of coastal vessels to reduce emissions, covering up to 40% of the conversion costs. The ferries are expected to have a service speed of 18.5kts and be able to recharge in port (Puttgarden and Rødby) in 12 minutes.

Zero emissions

The project is part of the drive to operate the Puttgarden-Rødby route without direct emissions by 2030 and realize the company’s zero direct emissions vision by 2040.

“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 Puttgarden-Rødby route emission-free by 2030,” said Michael Guldmann Petersen, CEO of Scandlines.

“We are excited to support Scandlines with their vision toward delivering environmentally sustainable transport options for the region. Ship electrification is one of the solutions for marine decarbonization 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,” commented Roger Holm, president of Wärtsilä Marine and executive vice president at Wärtsilä Corporation.

In related news, Scandlines recently began constructing a zero direct emissions freight ferry, which will be deployed on the Fehmarn Belt between Puttgarden in Germany and Rødby in Denmark in 2024. Click here to read the full story.