MPA and SMI award funding for electric harbour vessel

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) have awarded funding to three consortia to research, design, build and operate a fully electronic harbour craft over the next five years.

The consortia are led by Keppel FELS Limited, SeaTech Solutions and Sembcorp Marine, and comprise a total of 30 enterprises and research institutions.

These electrification pilot projects will demonstrate both commercial and technical viability of specific use cases for full electric harbour craft and will support Singapore’s broader plans to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the maritime transport sector.

MPA and SMI had launched the joint call for proposals on the electrification of harbourcraft in September 2020 after a series of workshops with the industry.

The call for proposals drew strong interest from the maritime community with 73 maritime companies and 10 institutes of higher learning and research institutes submitting a total of 16 proposals.

These proposals were evaluated based on their potential technical, operational and commercial viability, as well as strength of local capability development. The three selected proposals, adopting either new build or retrofit strategies, will tap on MPA’s Maritime GreenFuture Fund for the research, testing and piloting of low-carbon technologies.

Senior Minister of State for Transport, Chee Hong Tat, said, “To build a sustainable hub port, we plan for the 1,600 harbour craft operating in our waters to run on low-carbon fuels. One possible solution is the electrification of our harbour craft fleet, which reduces carbon emissions and has zero pollution.”

https://www.porttechnology.org/news/mpa-and-smi-award-funding-for-electric-harbour-vessel/