Ostseestaal and its sister company, Ampereship, have been awarded the contract to build an all-electric ferry for Heligoland.
The Stralsund-based company Ostseestaal has been commissioned by the port project company Helgoland to develop and build an all-electric ferry. The so-called dune ferry will connect the German North Sea island of Heligoland with the neighbouring island of Düne.
It will replace the “Witte Kliff” ferry, which has been operating on the approximately one-kilometre-long route since 1997 and is powered by conventional marine fuel. The new electric-solar ferry will be 15.2 metres long and 5.6 metres wide and offer space for 95 passengers.
The new zero-emission and fully electric ferry is being built by Ostseestaal and its sister company Ampereship. “With the ferry for Heligoland, we are realising another project for the use of zero-emission electric solar ships on the German coast,” says Dirk Zademack, General Manager of Ampereship.
In recent years, the Stralsund-based company has delivered variously designed electric solar ferries that operate between the mainland and the island of Usedom, on the Warnow in Rostock and on the Trave in Lübeck. The ship design and engineering of the new dune ferry comes from Ampereship. The ship has a battery bank with a capacity of 1,175 kWh and a drive power of 2 x 125 kW. The maximum speed is ten knots.
23rd electric solar shipbuilding project
Over the past two decades, Ostseestaal and Ampereship have delivered many electric-solar vessels for professional inland shipping. At the end of last year, for example, two electric solar ferries were delivered for Lake Iseo in northern Italy. These are the first fully electric ferries in Italy.
Ostseestaal and Ampereship have so far built a total of 22 electric solar-powered vessels for various purposes. With the construction contract for the new dune ferry, Ostseestaal and Ampereship are realising their 23rd shipbuilding project to date. Construction of the Heligoland ferry is scheduled to take one year.
Facts & figures on the dune ferry:
- Length: 15.2 m
- Width: 5.6 m
- Maximum speed: 10 kn (18.52 km/h)
- Number of passengers: 95
- Battery capacity: 1175 kWh
- Propulsion: 2 x 125 kW
