Scandlines marked laying the ferry’s keel at Cemre Shipyard (source: Scandlines)
Scandlines has laid the keel of its new zero-emissions freight ferry that will begin operating on the Puttgarden-Rødby route between Germany and Denmark from 2024
Currently carrying the working title PR24, the ferry was designed by LMG Marin in Norway, is under construction at Turkey’s Cemre Shipyard and will be Scandlines’ first emissions-free ferry. The operator envisions introducing more emissions-free ferries on this route by 2030.
PR24 will not be built around a single keel but rather with a number of hull sections. The vessel can charge in just 17 minutes in Rødby.
In 2019, the operator invested in a 50-kV, 25-MW power cable at Færgevej in Rødbyhavn and next year work will begin on extending this cable to the ferry berths to install a transformer and charging station.
The 147-m ferry has a capacity of 66 cargo units, 140 passengers and a service speed of 10 knots, enabling the ship to have a crossing time of 70 minutes.
The operator adds that PR24 can be operated as a hybrid ferry like the current passenger ferries on the company’s routes between Germany and Denmark (lowering the crossing time to 45 minutes) thus allowing it to be used as a backup ferry if any of the four double-ended ferries currently operating the Puttgarden-Rødby route are unavailable.
Danish tech start-up ReFlow will supply PR24 with a digital twin model to monitor the ship’s environmental performance.
The terminals in Puttgarden and Rødby are being rebuilt. Berth 1 in Rødby will be converted into a lay-up berth for all five double-ended ferries.
The free-standing part of the concrete bridge, which provided access for cars to the upper deck of the ferries from 1970-1997, has been removed and a crane has pulled up the moving span.
As PR24 will be transporting lorries on both the upper and lower decks – as it is currently the case on the ferries operating the Rostock-Gedser route – berth 1 in Puttgarden and berth 3 in Rødby must also be rebuilt. This work is expected to start later this year.
”We are off to a good start, and we are sending a clear signal of continued focus on growth,” said Scandlines chief executive Carsten Nørland.
