Sharjah24 – AFP: A French cargo ship wants to be the future of a greener sea freight industry by being powered by hydrogen, yielding no direct greenhouse gas emissions.
The Energy Observer 2, presented at the U.N.-backed One Ocean Summit in the western French city of Brest on Thursday (February 10), is a new prototype that follows a smaller sister ship launched in 2017, the Energy Observer, a catamaran covered in solar panels that was the world's first boat to be powered solely by renewable energy and capable to produce its own hydrogen using saltwater.
The plan is to have the first zero-emissions cargo ship to take to the seas by 2025.
While its smaller sister was an exploration boat, the Energy Observer 2 accommodates for heavy loads and can carry up to 240 freight containers around continents.
Energy Observer founder Victorien Erussard, who says sea freight is responsible for 3% of the world's CO2 emissions, said this boat can potentially de-carbonise a third of the world's existing fleet.
The plan is for the cargo ship to be powered by liquified hydrogen produced on land with carbon-neutral energy, Erussard hopes, such as nuclear or other renewable energy sources.
The ship also has four sets of sails that look like vertical wings, which use wind propulsion to reduce fuel consumption by up to 40%. The vessel can carry up to 70 tonnes of liquid hydrogen for up to 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km).
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