Netherlands awards contract for three new hybrid vessels

The Netherlands’ infrastructure agency Rijkswaterstaat has awarded Bijlsma Wartena a contract to build its three new multi-functional hybrid vessels for the national fleet. The Netherlands’ first battery-powered Multi-Purpose Vessel will be delivered within 2018.

The Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPV 30s) are equipped with EST-Floattech’s Green Orca 1050 batteries, allowing the vessel to conduct all of their day-to-day activities under electric power.

In addition, the engines run at the optimal RPMs in order to minimise emissions of fine particulates, CO2 and NOx, and to reduce fuel consumption and operating cost.

Bijlsma Wartena designed the hydrodynamics of the hull to reduce the water resistance, which means the vessel uses even less energy for propulsion. The MPV 30 can sail in two directions by turning the propulsion under the vessel, allowing it to keep working in even the roughest seas.

Rijkswaterstaat will use the MPV 30 on the Netherlands’ major inland waterways, the Wadden Sea, and up to 30 miles off the Netherlands’ North Sea coast. The first two boats will be delivered in 2018, and the third will follow in 2019.