Port of Rotterdam Authority puts hybrid vessel into operation
25 January 2018
The Port of Rotterdam Authority has put a new hybrid patrol vessel into operation. The RPA 8 is 25 meters in length and can run on both diesel and diesel-electric. The vessel causes considerably less vessel wake and is much more efficient than other Port Authority vessels. It replaces the RPA 3, which had reached the end of its technical and economic service life. RPA 8 was built by Kooiman Group in Zwijndrecht.
This is the first time since 2010 that the harbor master has put a new vessel into operation. Each year, around 30,000 sea-going vessels and 110,000 inland vessels arrive at the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest sea port.
The hybrid propulsion system enables efficient patrolling at low speeds and reduces the number of hours the diesel engines need to run at low load operation. The vessel’s special wing profile underwater results in reduced vessel wake; this is better for quay walls and other vessels as well as for fuel consumption. The hull is constructed from aluminum, which also results in a fuel consumption reduction.
“All these innovations result in the RPA 8 saving the same amount of energy as 65 households consume in one year. This also reduces the vessel’s CO2 emissions; the level of reduced emissions is calculated to be equivalent to saving the annual planting of approximately 8,000 .
—(State) Harbor Master René de Vries
Many innovations on board the RPA 8 will also be used on the vessels RPA 13, RPA 12, RPA 11, RPA 10 and RPA 16. RPA 11 and 12 will also be hybrid vessels.
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