First Cruise Ship Partially Powered By Battery Sails For The Arctic

We have heard a lot of about battery power being used for cars but could it be used for significantly bigger modes of transportation? That’s a question the MS Roald Amundsen aims to answer. It’s the world’s first cruise ship that’s powered partially by battery. It’s operator Hurtigruten has said that the ship is going to set out from northern Norway on its maiden voyage.

The MS Roald Amundsen has been designed to sail in harsh climate waters while also taking 500 passengers onboard. The ship is named after the Norwegian explorer who had navigated the Northwest Passage in 1903-1906.

He was also the first to reach the South Pole in 1911. The ship is going to sail from Tromsoe this week for the Arctic and will then sail through the Northwest Passage to Alaska before it heads south to reach Antarctica by October this year.

The ships engines primarily run on marine gasoil, however, the battery pack onboard the ship enables it to run only on batteries for up to 60 minutes when the conditions are just right. The company is of the view that this hybrid arrangement will reduce fuel consumption and save around 20 percent in CO2 emissions compared to if the ship was running on gasoil alone.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Transportation