One of the main attractions of the Pacific Northwest is the outdoors, with its unique mix of seas, mountains and forests. However, the highly active shipping industry in the Seattle area would possibly be at odds with the perception of a pristine environment, with up to advertising boats depending on noisy and polluting diesel engines.
Recent advances in electrification generation, however, are offering new solutions. This led Washington State to chart a new course for its fleet of ferries. Partnering with shipbuilder Vigor Industrial and engineering and generation company ABB, Washington State Ferries will build the first five of a total of 16 new ships and move to a fully hybrid electric fleet until 2040.
Vigor is a diversified production company with seven plants and 2,300 workers in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company is privately owned through The Carlyle Group and Stellex Capital Management, and focuses on shipping construction, shipping arrangements, and other production projects for aerospace, military, infrastructure, and energy applications.
ABB is a provider of engineering services, complex motion technologies, robotics and electrification, as well as software solutions for a wide variety of industries. At the age of 130, ABB is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. The company has more than 20,000 U.S. workers and more than 110,000 international workers in more than 100 countries. Last year, ABB generated $28 billion in annual revenue.
“The ships are electrified and connected,” said Juha Koskela, president of ABB’s Maritime and Port division. “Hydrogen fuel cells are another solution. Operators are in a hurry to fulfill the International Maritime Organization’s purpose of reducing CO2 emissions by 50% until 2050.”
“Seattle ferries are iconic and Seattle is a maritime city,” added Edward Schwarz, vice president of sales for America at ABB Marine Ports. “Washington State ferries are the largest network in the United States and number 4 or five in the world. For them, saying they’re going to be electric is huge. It is the first large-scale U.S. fleet in an electric hybrid. electric ferries to date have been in Scandinavia».
Vigor will manage the five new sending structures and the hardware component of conversions. ABB is a supplier of hybrid electrical systems for new ships, offering turnkey answers for the integration of force delivery systems. New and modernized ferries will be designed to optimize strength intake, with the ability to harness the strength of the main engine, battery strength, or a mixture of both. Fuel intake is expected to halve by 2040, and ferries are expected to meet their CO2 relief targets by 2050 by 2034.
“This will have a massive effect on the air quality of downtown Seattle,” Schwarz said. “It will also be a great advantage for noise. In reality, they will be zero-emission vessels when using battery power, because the recharged electricity will basically come from hydroelectric sources.”
The assignment is lately in its design phase. The new Olympic-class ferries envisaged will have the capacity to carry 144 cars and 1500 passengers each. Once the design is approved through Washington State, final orders will be placed, with the first ferry delivery scheduled for 2024. The plan is to deliver the following ships at a rate of one every 14 months.
“America’s shipping industry has lagged behind in technology,” Schwarz said. “Pride has been robust instead of the newest technologies. This task will serve as a demonstration for other industry sectors. See wonderful long-term opportunities in tugboats, tugboats, cruise ships and containers.” They all operate at a constant speed and require a lot of force, those needs lend themselves to electrification.”
Meanwhile, ABB also works in the United States in New York State. There, two Maid of the Mist diesel excursion boats at Niagara Falls were replaced by two all-electric zero-emission catamarans. ABB has partnered with Maid of the Mist to deliver the first all-electric ships built in the United States. The new tour boats are recently completing their latest Coast Guard qualifying tests and are expected to be in service until the end of the season.
Opportunities are not limited to the maritime industry. “We are offering built-in fast charging and high power systems,” Koskela said. “We observe maritime transport in general in a comprehensive way. We can also see things on trains and buses.
“What we want to do is use electric power to get everything from the app to the propellers and wheels,” Schwarz added. “Our ultimate goal is to make all our transportation systems more sustainable.”
This article is edited to update the titles of the other people’s publications.
I have spent decades in production “sectors” in engineering, operations and management. My career has taken me from the workshops to the company
I have spent decades in production “sectors” in engineering, operations and management. My career has taken me from factories to corporate offices, with corporations like Ralston-Purina and General Mills, producing everything from plastic to paints and bourbon food. I write a blog about the interface.