Future fuels clean up at Nor-Shipping awards

The world’s largest plug-in hybrid vessel, Color Hybrid, won Norwegian ‘Ship of the Year 2019’. Gunvor Ulstein, head of Ulstein Werft where the 160 m vessel is under construction, received the Award from HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.

 With a battery package of 4.7 MWh, Color Hybrid can carry 2,000 passengers and 500 cars and is able to travel 12nm only on battery power, charged with shore power in Sandefjord.

Gagarin Prospect, the world’s first Aframax tanker designed to run on LNG, won the Nor-Shipping 2019 Next Generation Ship Award, presented by Norwegian Minister of Trade Torbjørn Røe Isaksen.

The vessel was the first of six units ordered by Sovcomflot from Hyundai Samho with dual fuel capability despite the absence of any firm charter at the time. The tanker is also fitted with a low-pressure X-DF dual fuel engine, to minimise emissions of particulate matter, and when not utilising LNG fuel has Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology to comply with the Tier III regulations governing NOx emissions.

The Young Entrepreneur Award went to Agnes Árnadóttir and Espen Larsen-Hakkebo, respectively the ceo and cfo of Brim Explorer. The pair of 33-year-olds who have managed to gather investors and clients in order to build two Arctic tourism vessels and ready them for operation.

The hybrid ship they have helped design is one of the world’s most flexible electric vessels, as it can be charged at any port and operate on batteries for 10 hours with a cruising speed of 10 knots.