A European company has contracted Norway-based marine and maritime technology company Havyard Group to develop a new zero-emission ship concept for cargo transport. The partner was first introduced to Havyard by Invest in Norway, who has been working with this company for the last 2 years in supporting its entry to the Norwegian maritime industry.

Havyard recently established the company Havyard Hydrogen AS as a spin-off of the company’s R&D work in the area of hydrogen propulsion for large vessels that has been carried out over many years, for example through the Pilot-E project FreeCO2ast. (Earlier post.)

Lars Conradi Andersen, Vice President Sales, says that through this pilot project, Havyard will combine the company’s expertise in hydrogen energy systems and ship design to develop a new concept for transporting cargo between European ports.

The framework for this contract is to develop a ship that uses hydrogen-based fuel as its primary energy source while at the same time giving the client an effective and safe ship. The goal is to design a large ship that can sail longer distances with zero emissions.

—Lars Andersen

The new partner has taken note of Havyard’s hydrogen expertise and work on zero-emission vessels, in addition to Havyard Design’s advanced simulation tool for developing energy-efficient solutions. Hydrogen-based fuels must be stored differently than traditional fuels, since they require more space and different security systems.

The European company has enquired about Havyard’s vessel operations studies and the possibility of using Havyard Ocean LAB to create a digital twin of the ship and put it ‘in operation’ on a virtual ocean. This allows experimenting with hundreds of alternatives to clarify the basic size and framework conditions for the ship.

The client can then select the best alternatives and the process continues with quality assurance and documentation of the variables of the ships that have made it to the final round. Finally, a digital copy is made of both the ship and the planned route including all information about weather and wind, current and wave data. In this way, the ship has been in digital operation before it has even been built, and all adjustments can be made to ensure maximal efficiency in terms of both the environment and budget.