German shipbuilder Meyer-Werft recently announced it would present the concept for the world's first 100 per cent battery-electric cruise vessel, dubbed 'Project Vision'.
The concept vessel will be presented at the Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami, USA—one of the largest annual events in the global cruise industry, which will take place from April 13 to 16 this year.
Reiterating that the concept ship—which has a proposed capacity of about 82,000 gross tonnes (more than 83,000 metric tonnes)—would be utilising many components that are already in use in the maritime industry, Meyer-Werft added that the vessel could come to life in less than 50 years.
The new vessel is expected to reduce emissions by up to 95 per cent, which would mark a major boost for maritime decarbonisation initiatives around the world.
Measuring 275m long, the concept vessel can accommodate 1,856 passengers, and will be powered by a system from Norwegian battery tech giant, Corvus Energy.
"Scaling to fully electric cruise ships shows the world that the technology is safe, mature and ready to change the game," said Fredrik Witte, CEO of Corvus Energy, in a Thursday statement from Meyer-Werft.
Meyer-Werft also addresses the battery question: for a huge vessel of this kind to operate, it would need to be charged at regular intervals from high-capacity charging points.
In that regard, it claims that it would be best suited for the most of the typical European cruise routes, and that by 2030, around 100 ports across the continent would anyway develop the charging infrastructure needed for it to function smoothly.
"Upon request, the ships can also be built as hybrids with small generators, enabling, for example, transatlantic crossings," the company added, noting that the first such cruise ship could come to life as early as 2031, if orders were made for it this year.
Project Vision also faces close competition from Hurtigruten, a Norwegian cruise ship operator, which is currently helming a project—called 'Sea Zero'—to develop the world's first zero-emission cruise vessel by 2030.
However, it would be a smaller vessel capable of accommodating about 500 passengers, with a battery capacity of about 60 MWh, and auxiliary power from rotor sails and solar panels.
Still, these two projects are top contenders in the global decarbonisation race, and it is interesting to see how far each vessel could go in pursuit of becoming 100 per cent emission-free.
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