The era of electric container vessels has arrived.
Chinese shipping giant COSCO has successfully launched its 700-TEU electric container vessel, the N997, from its Yangzhou shipyard.
“It marks a significant advancement in the adoption of fully battery-powered vessels in inland waterways,” a company spokesman said. “Moving forward, COSCO SHIPPING Development will remain committed to promoting and implementing electric vessels in domestic inland and coastal waters, contributing to the development of green, zero-carbon shipping solutions.”
The ship contains an intelligence ship platform system, along with a situational awareness system for increased safety.
According to Splash247, it will serve a regular 1 000km route up and down the Yangtze River.
The 10 000-dwt vessel will be powered by 36 portable container-sized batteries and have two 900 kW main propulsion engines.
However, the shipping portal points out that it will not be able to run the entire 1 000km route on the batteries it is carrying onboard. It will rather replace its batteries, when necessary, in ports along the way. There are 30 container ports along the 2 700 km of the Yangtze navigable waterway.
The vessel is considered to be a breakthrough in inland river shipping.
It’s understood that construction is under way on a second electric container ship, the N998, with a launch date yet to be confirmed.
