Northern Xplorer has launched a zero-emissions luxury cruise concept that is based on hydrogen and battery technology, says an article published in Riviera.
Ships accommodating
The plans are ambitious: the aim is for a series of 14 ships accommodating up to 300 passengers in 150 cabins, supported by approximately 100 crew.
The first are intended to be operational from 2025, well in advance of the 2026 zero-emissions regulations affecting Norway’s world-heritage fjords.
These will make zero emissions mandatory in the world-heritage sites of Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord.
Zero-emissions ferries
Company founder and chief executive Rolf Andre Sandvik tells PST about the technology the concept is aiming to use.
Mr Sandvik is experienced in the use of alternative propulsion and fuels, as he was previously chief executive of The Fjords, which has been at the forefront of zero-emissions ferries with its vessels Future of The Fjords – the world’s first all-electric carbon fibre catamaran, all-electric Legacy of the Fjords and diesel-electric Vision of the Fjords.
He says the current goal is for Northern Xplorer cruise ships to have an energy base of 75% battery power and 25% hydrogen power.
This balance, he says, allows the company to derisk in case hydrogen is not readily available when the first ship is launched.
Recent advantage
A recent advantage for the company is Norwegian Government body Enova’s announcement in June that it will establish five hydrogen hubs on the coast of Norway.
Mr Sandvik says, “We see that batteries are developing at a fast pace, and at the same time, we have the Enova announcement for hydrogen hubs that will fall into the areas we plan to start trafficking with hydrogen.”
Biggest concerns
Hailing the announcement, he says, “It is exciting to see how things are falling into place. One of the biggest concerns from investors, is will hydrogen be ready? With last week’s announcement, this question will be answered. Hydrogen is a great tool for us to further develop.”
Opened discussions
The company has worked closely with ABB for the last four years on the design and systems integration and has opened discussions with class societies to do an approval-in-principle process.
This is necessary, because having hydrogen on board makes the cruise ship an alternative design.
High-revenue areas
Another attractive point is that hydrogen prices have been dropping.
Mr Sandvik expands, “Prices of hydrogen have gone down. When I first started looking at it in 2017 [as a possibility for The Fjords], we saw the price of hydrogen was way too high to make it even feasible in high-revenue areas, but over the years, the price of hydrogen has dropped by close to 60%. We expect the drop to continue when more hydrogen plants come online.”
Explaining plans for the energy mix on board the vessels, Mr Sandvik says, “The plan is to use batteries first and hydrogen as a range extender. Hydrogen will be one part of the mix for batteries. If batteries had a dedicated ability to keep as much energy as was needed for the itinerary, I wouldn’t worry, but we need the flexibility hydrogen gives us, to allow for changes in itinerary, changes in the weather – it gives us the flexibility we would not have with batteries to the same extent.”
Pier-side facility
Due to needing to preserve payload areas on board, the plan for bunkering is to bunker via the ship side, by either truck or pier-side facility.
On the battery side, Mr Sandvik is confident about shore power.
“Grid power is in place in many ports. We are lucky here in Norway as we have available power.”
Hydrogen package
Mr Sandvik is currently in discussions with shipyards to build the Northern Xplorer fleet and has been speaking to builders spanning Europe and Asia.
“We see a huge span in pricing levels,” he comments.
“Many have done their pricing on the risk of the hydrogen package. We are talking about making this project €30-50M (US$31-51M) more expensive based on the battery and hydrogen package. We still aim to have this clean technology on board to meet the 2026 regulation, but if we cannot get the pricing down, we must explain to stakeholders that we will have to install diesel until 2026 and make the ship prepared for use of hydrogen then.”
“We need to play this smart, what is supporting us is the market wants to attract the thinking traveller.” Indeed, Northern Xplorer’s market is aimed at the thinking traveller.
High-end luxury cruises
Mr Sandvik points out recent passenger surveys for high-end luxury cruises show 70% would pay considerably more for zero-emissions travel.
“This consciousness is growing,” says Mr Sandvik.
Technology on board
Northern Xplorer has not yet decided on a battery supplier, as it wants to make sure that when it launches the ships, it has the utmost technology on board, “so we don’t want to tie ourselves to technology that is obsolete.”
And in the interior, sophisticated HVAC systems will safeguard against pathogen spread while extensive use of recyclable materials will promote circularity.
They will also feature advanced LADAR technology to detect marine plastic debris and raise awareness of maritime pollution.
Unveiled itinerary plan
The company has unveiled an ambitious itinerary plan, starting in Scandinavia and then branching out with further ships to the Mediterranean, the UK, the Red Sea and Gulf States among other areas.
Mr Sandvik says, “We want to build four ships in one go so we need to expand abroad and create a brand that visits other countries. We are looking at moving this quickly out of Norway.”
Distinct exterior design
Like The Fjords trio of electric ferries, which won many design prizes, the Northern Xplorer cruise ships will also have a distinct exterior and design.
“We are creating a yacht-like theme.”
Indeed, the company gave the job to design the ship to someone who had never designed a cruise ship before – just as The Fjords did.
Advanced offshore vessels
Mr Sandvik reminisces, “The designer of Vision of the Fjords was initially a plumber at the shipyard, later to become a ship designer. The naval architect [from Multi Maritime] we chose for Northern Xplorer has never designed a cruise ship before. Being so disruptive in this project, we wanted someone to design a cruise ship for the first time.He has designed fishing vessels, ferries and advanced offshore vessels and has a great insight into batteries and hydrogen, and we took them because of that knowledge.”
“I said to him… you need to design a cruise ship people know is a Northern Xplorer cruise ship based on its design and lines, without needing to see the name.”
The striking design of Northern Xplorer’s planned cruise ships certainly achieves this goal.
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Source: Riviera
