Finland-based designer Deltamarin, a part of China Merchants Group, said it has signed a contract with compatriot Fennorail to work on a train ferry that can sail on LNG and green hydrogen.
The Eurocarrier ferry, capable of carrying both train and truck cargo, will connect Finland to the European TEN-T railway networks. It will create a connection across Eastern Europe to Central Europe and the Mediterranean, according to a Deltamarin statement.
Approximately 400,000 trucks per year, or 1,100 trucks per day travel on car ferries between Finland and Estonia, it said.
“The emission footprint from heavy goods vehicles (road cargo) is more than five times greater than rail traffic, so significant emission reduction can be achieved by shifting a portion of the cargo from road to rail,” Deltamarin said.
“World’s greenest train ferry”
The new vessel will operate in the Baltic Sea. It will have a capacity of more than 1,000 lane meters for train cargo and 1,500 lane meters for trucks.
Deltamarin said the objective is to develop the “world’s greenest train ferry” by optimizing the design and selecting machinery system compatible with alternative fuels such as LNG and green hydrogen.
The firm said it has already started design work at its offices in Finland.
Fennorail’s board member Kaj Jansson said in the statement that the train ferry would have multifuel marine engines that can run on either pure LNG, a mixture of LNG and green hydrogen or marine gas oil.
Ships propulsion system includes two 360-degree rotating POD’s which increases the propulsion efficiency and ships maneuverability, he said.
“Deltamarin is well acquainted with these technologies and their manufacturers and combines them with their own advanced ship design knowledge. In addition, they have well proven experience in supervising the ships construction process,” Jansson said.
Deltamarin won several design contracts for LNG-powered vessels during the last year and in 2022. These include contracts for LNG-powered PCTCs ordered by Hoegh Autoliners, and Stena’s E-Flexer class LNG-powered ferries.
French LNG containment giant GTT and Deltamarin also recently won basic design approval from DNV for a new LNG-powered PCTC.