Norwegian shipowner Egil Ulvan Rederi plans to build up to five zero-emission shortsea bulkers after winning a hefty subsidy.
Final approval of the award signalled a go-ahead for one key Norwegian decarbonisation project led by class society DNV.
But now the Trondheim-based shipowner believes the one-ship plan can be extended to a series of vessels.
The total NOK 118m ($13.6m) package from the Norwegian state decarbonisation agency includes NOK 100m for shipbuilding for Egil Ulvan Rederi, plus NOK 14m to Statkraft for a containerised compressed hydrogen fuelling solution.
The Enova award was announced at a conference of DNV’s Green Shipping Programme, held in Oslo in connection with Nor-Shipping.
Egil Ulvan is already collaborating with HeidelbergCement and Felleskjopet Agri in a project to build at least one ship, to be called With Orca, for the two charterers’ complementary eastbound and westbound trades against a 15-year charter.
Final design details and, most importantly, the shipbuilder are not set yet.
But with the approval this week of the Enova grant, the owner considers the highest hurdle to have been cleared.
“This is the most important date for this project, but now, together with Norwegian Ship Design, we still have a lot of work to do to finalise the contracts,” shipowner Ivar Ulvan told the Green Shipping Programme delegates.
Lars Erik Marcussen, head of chartering for HeidelbergCement, said the order should be placed this year and the With Orca should be sailing by the end of 2024.
Ulvan told TradeWinds he hopes to be able to order five ships in total, in the form of a firm first vessel plus two pairs of optional sisterships for other coastal charterers.
The Norwegian Ship Design 5,500-dwt self-unloading design includes hydrogen combustion main engines augmented by rotor sails, waste heat exploitation and storage batteries. Class society Lloyd’s Register granted approval in principle for the With Orca.
Marcussen told delegates that with sail and battery power, the With Orca will be able to switch off its main engine for significant stretches during a voyage and be competitive on cost with conventional diesel-powered ships.
Egil Ulvans Rederi is a century-old family-owned company with roots in the fishing business, and some of the main customers for its bulk and general cargo business today include fishing and aquaculture companies along Norway’s western and central coast. But the new ship will serve a route between the Oslo fjord and the southwest coast.
The Green Sea Programme, led by DNV’s Narve Mjos, is promoting a number of Norwegian initiatives for zero-emissions shipping, some driven by shipowners, others by cargo interests that want to use transport to cut their carbon footprint.
The conference heard reports on projects by companies including Altera Infrastructure, Grieg Star, Fincantieri’s Vard shipbuilder and even Norwegian grocery supplier Asko.
Asko, with no background in water transportation, set up subsidiary Asko Maritime in 2020 with plans to decarbonise its food deliveries from warehouses in eastern Norway by using a fleet of electric trucks and two cross-fjord “sea drones”, autonomous ferries carrying 16 containers, with no crews, trucks or drivers.
