Estonian Ferry Opts for Hybrid Retrofit

Estonian ferry company TS Laevad has signed an agreement with the Estonian shipbuilding company Baltic Workboats AS to rebuild the ferry Tõll, which operates the on the Virtsu-Kuivastu line, into environmentally friendly hybrid ship.

The subsidiary of Tallinna Sadam said in a press release that during the reconstruction, a battery bank will be installed on the vessel to reduce the consumption of diesel fuel and reduce the resulting exhaust gas by replacing fossil fuel with electricity stored in battery banks.

According to Jaak Kaabel, Chairman of the Board of TS Laevad, the project expects TS Laevad to replace about a fifth of the diesel fuel consumption with electricity.

“We believe that on shorter ferry routes the environmentally friendly power ships are the future of ferry traffic, both in Estonia and elsewhere, especially considering the global climate targets for reducing CO2 emissions. If the project is successful, the technology will be deployed on all four new ships,” said Kaabel.

The construction works are carried out by the main contractor Baltic Workboats, the battery banks are supplied by Corvus Energy, the automation equipment is supplied by Norwegian Electric Systems and the peak-shaving hybrid solution is designed by LMG Marin. The total cost of the investment is EUR 1.6 million.

The reconstruction works will start in mid-October this year, mainly during the ship's voyages. The ship will be off the line for up to two weeks for the final transfer to battery power. According to the agreement, the ferry Tõll will run on the power supply of the battery banks the latest by 29 February 2020.

Tallinna Sadam is one of the largest cargo- and passenger port complexes in the Baltic Sea region, which in 2018 serviced 10.6 million passengers and 20.6 million tons of cargo.