Hydro teams up with Norway for electric passenger ferry

Hydro has collaborated with Norway to develop the world’s first fully electrical passenger ferry. The project would include extrusions, panels, friction-stir welding, robotic welding, bending larger panels, optimizing CAD (computer-aided design) services and modular design. 

One ferry can contain 25-30 tonnes of aluminium.

Hydro will use low-carbon aluminium extrusion ingot and sheet ingot products like Hydro CIRCAL and Hydro REDUXA, which improve the environmental performance even further. 

“The ferry is part of a European Union-funded program – The TrAM Project (Transport Advanced and Modular) – to make shipbuilding more efficient, and Hydro is part of the partnership including industry, government and research organizations,” Hydro said.

 “Standardization allows us to use the same components and designs, which can be used in various applications,” said Thomas Svendsen, Market Manager in Hydro Extruded Solutions’ Marine & Offshore business.  

“This lowers the cost of designing and engineering a ship, dealing with sub-contractors, and constructing the vessel. But it is also makes shipbuilding more flexible, meaning you can have standard bow and stern modules, and simply add modules in the middle for more passenger capacity.” 

The one ferry will be built by Fjellstrand AS. It will provide service in the Stavanger region.It will be operated by the Rogaland County Council and Kolumbus, the regional transportation company. Two other ferries may be built for London and Belgium under the EU project. 

Shipyard work is slated for 2021-2022, and the ferry is expected to be in operation in 2022-2023. 

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