Electric Container Ship Race

The electric container ship race seems to be very much on, with at least two parties having announced their innovative intentions this year.

Dutch company Port Liner declared earlier in the year that they are building two giant all-electric barges, which are being dubbed the ‘Tesla Ships’.

The company stated that the vessels would be ready in 2018, although we still await further news. They intend their first journey to be sailing the Wilhelmina canal in the Netherlands. The battery-powered barges are expected to be able to carry 280 containers.

Meanwhile, two Norwegian firms are also close to developing the world’s first driverless ship, which again was planned for completion this year. The ship has been commissioned to carry around 120 containers and should replace around 40,000 diesel truck journeys per year.

The ship will be human manned in the early stages and eventually is expected to run completely on its own, under supervision from shore.

The electric container ship will cut emissions and be able to self-dock and navigate around other boats. One vessel will come at a cost of $25 million, which is roughly 10% of the cost of one of today’s mega sized container ships, but with less than 1% of their capacity.

Some progress to be made on the economics still!

Supply Chain News from the Supply Chain Academy. The only learning resource centre focused solely on the subject of supply chain, for more information call 01708 259450 or email info@supplychainacademy.org.uk

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