Scandlines’ new ferry is expected by 2024 (source: Scandlines)
A new Scandlines ferry will feature a digital climate model from Danish tech start-up ReFlow
ReFlow will develop an advanced ‘digital climate twin’ of Scandlines’ latest zero-emissions ferry design using lifecycle assessment methodology. This will help calculate the ferry’s total environmental impact throughout the ship’s lifetime.
The start-up specialises in complex LCAs – a calculation method used to determine the environmental impact a product or system contributes during its lifetime.
In other industries, LCA calculations are supported by the ISO standards ISO 14040 and 14044 as well as various EU guidelines, but LCA assessments are relatively new in the maritime sector.
“It will be the first time lifecycle calculations are made on a ferry of this style – it will be world history. LCAs can provide a detailed account of the environmental impact of products – even products and solutions that have not yet been purchased or produced and will thereby help to secure the ferries of the future,” said ReFlow chief executive Rasmus Elsborg-Jensen.
Scandlines vice president fleet Fini A Hansen added, “In the future, we will evaluate new solutions before they are purchased, to ensure their climate profiles meet a certain standard or are perhaps better – that way we over time help to make our ferries greener as new green solutions are invented.”
The EU is expected to launch new initiatives with a view to ensuring transparency and credibility around green products within the coming years – initiatives such as Product Environmental Footprint. The new initiatives will be based on the ISO-standardised method on which LCA is based and that underlies ReFlow’s digital model for Scandlines.
Mr Elsborg-Jensen said, “Lifecycle assessments are in Denmark and the EU the recommended method to support the climate statements a company may have about a product and are therefore also included in the new EU climate policy.”
Scandlines’ new ferry is yet to be named but has a tentative working title PR24 (Puttgarden-Rødby 2024). The ferry was designed by LMG Marin in Norway and is being built at Turkey’s Cemre Shipyard where the steel is being cut.
When operational, the 147-m ferry will operate on the Puttgarden-Rødby route between Germany and Denmark. The double-ended ferry has a capacity of 66 cargo units, 140 passengers and a service speed of 10 knots.
