Imagine trying to turn an old gas car into an electric or hydrogen vehicle without buying a new one. This work does that for ships, swapping old engines for ones that run on hydrogen or methanol. It also reshapes the back of the boat to glide through water more easily and introduces swappable battery packs like giant power banks for ships.
Existing inland and coastal ships are hard to decarbonize because new fuels need more space and bunkering infrastructure is missing. Ship owners lack a clear guide on which retrofit is best for their specific ship type and route.
A catalogue of retrofit solutions and physical demonstrations of hydrogen/methanol engines, swappable battery containers, and optimized hull shapes.
If you are a vessel operator dealing with strict emission laws and old ships — this project developed a catalogue of retrofit solutions that allows you to switch to hydrogen or methanol engines. This means you can keep your existing fleet while meeting green standards.
If you are a shipyard dealing with a lack of standardized green upgrade paths — this project developed a technical guide for aft-ship replacement and hybrid propulsion. You can use these designs to offer optimized hull shapes and rudder systems to your clients.
If you are a port operator dealing with the slow rollout of charging stations — this project developed swappable battery container services. This allows ships to exchange depleted batteries for full ones, reducing the time spent docked for charging.
Based on available project data, most greening measures require considerable investments, and the project aims to model energy carrier costs for 2020, 2035, and 2050 to help plan these expenses.
The project is moving toward industrial scale by demonstrating retrofits on real inland vessels and using a Zero Emission Lab for model testing.
Based on available project data, the project is creating a catalogue of retrofit solutions, but specific licensing terms are not mentioned.
The project addresses the fact that current regulatory frameworks do not provide adequate support for decarbonization by providing proven technical alternatives.
The project runs from 2023-01-01 to 2026-06-30, suggesting that finalized solutions will be available by mid-2026.
The consortium is heavily industry-driven, with 13 industrial partners making up 72% of the 18 total members. This high industrial concentration, including 5 SMEs across 8 countries, suggests the project is focused on commercial viability and practical application rather than theoretical research.
Contact the Entwicklungszentrum für Schiffstechnik und Transportsysteme eV in Germany.
Contact us to access the retrofit catalogue for your fleet.
