Europe is devoting extensive resources to achieving the climate goals, and the maritime industry is part of the solution. Green solutions and zero-emission vessels are in high demand in several segments.

Now, a European player has contracted Havyard to develop a new ship concept for cargo transport, and it must be emission free. The partner was first introduced to Havyard by Invest in Norway, who has been working with this company for the last 2 years in supporting their entry to the Norwegian maritime industry.

New concept – zero emissions
Lars Conradi Andersen, Vice President Sales, says that through this pilot project, Havyard will combine the company’s expertise in hydrogen energy systems and ship design to develop a brand new concept for transporting cargo between European ports.

• ‘The framework for this contract is to develop a ship that uses hydrogen-based fuel as its primary energy source while at the same time giving the client an effective and safe ship. The goal is to design a large ship that can sail longer distances with zero emissions.’

The new partner has taken note of Havyard’s hydrogen expertise and work on zero-emission vessels, in addition to Havyard Design’s advanced simulation tool for developing energy-efficient solutions.

Hydrogen-based fuels must be stored differently than traditional fuels, since they require more space and different security systems.

‘Havyard is the ideal partner in this regard, since our research and development work in the area of both hydrogen and simulation-driven ship design has given us unique cross-cutting expertise in how to design ships with low environmental impact,’ says Andersen.

Havyard Hydrogen
Havyard has now established the company Havyard Hydrogen AS as a spin-off of the company’s R&D work in the area of hydrogen propulsion for large vessels that has been carried out over many years, for example through the Pilot-E project FreeCO₂ast.

Executive Vice President of Havyard Hydrogen Kristian Osnes says the team is very excited about the contract with the European player, and that Havyard’s green transition work has been noticed in the European market.

‘This shows that we have the expertise and solutions needed in tomorrow’s shipping industry.’

Osnes says that they are noticing a trend where the market demands specific zero-emission solutions, and he is looking forward to getting to grips with the challenges of combining the right technology with the right ship design for this client.

‘This is precisely the type of project that we need to expand the portfolio of zero emission solutions into new ship segments.’

Havyard’s digital twin
The European player has enquired about Havyard’s vessel operations studies and the possibility of using Havyard Ocean LAB to create a digital twin of the ship and put it ‘in operation’ on a virtual ocean. This allows us to experiment with hundreds of alternatives to clarify the basic size and framework conditions for the ship.

The client can then select the best alternatives and the process continues with quality assurance and documentation of the variables of the ships that have made it to the final round. Finally, a digital copy is made of both the ship and the planned route including all information about weather and wind, current and wave data. In this way, the ship has been in digital operation before it has even been built, and all adjustments can be made to ensure maximal efficiency in terms of both the environment and budget.