Scandlines: New digital climate tool reduces CO2 footprint

The Danish tech startup ReFlow will equip Scandlines' new, world's largest electric hybrid ferry with a digital climate model. This model will calculate the overall environmental impact during the ferry's lifetime. The ferry, currently under the working title PR24, will operate on the Puttgarden–Rødby route starting in 2024. This is the first time that life cycle analyses at this scale are being conducted for a ferry. Scandlines expects that with the help of the new digital tool, the ferry’s CO₂ footprint can be reduced even after construction. The high-seas ship was designed by LMG Marin AS in Norway and will be built at the Turkish shipyard Cemre. Also involved in its design are the Norwegian company Kongsberg Maritime and Norwegian Electric Systems (NES).

Specialist in Life Cycle Assessments

ReFlow specializes in a calculation method to determine the environmental impact caused by a product or system during its lifetime – also known as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Its clients include, among others, Viking Life-Saving and Mærsk. Life cycle assessments are already used in other industries such as aviation and the automotive sector and are even legally required in the construction industry. The calculations are based on the ISO standards ISO 14040 and 14044 as well as various EU directives. However, using a life cycle assessment at such an early stage of the process in the maritime sector is a completely new approach.

This will be the first time such life cycle analyses are conducted for a ferry – we are making history. Life cycle analyses or LCAs can provide a detailed inventory of the environmental impacts of products – including products and solutions that have not yet been purchased or produced. They thus contribute to securing the ferries of the future. (Rasmus Elsborg-Jensen, CEO and Founder of ReFlow)

In the future, we can evaluate new solutions before purchasing to ensure that climate balances meet the desired standard or perform even better. In this way, we contribute to making our ferries more environmentally friendly step by step as new solutions are developed. (Fini A. Hansen, VP Fleet at Scandlines)

In line with new EU recommendations

It is expected that the EU will undertake new initiatives in the coming years to ensure transparency and credibility in relation to environmentally friendly products – initiatives like PEF (Product Environmental Footprint). The new initiatives all share the common basis of the standardized ISO method on which the life cycle assessment relies. This methodology also forms the foundation of the new digital model being developed.

The Ship

Scandlines' electric hybrid ferry will be 147.4 m long and 25.4 m wide with a construction draft of 5.3 m. The double-ended ferry has a capacity of 66 freight units, 140 passengers, and a service speed of ten knots. As a hybrid ferry, the crossing time is 45 minutes, and in pure battery operation, it is 70 minutes. The ferry is equipped with one of the world's largest mobile batteries (10 MWh) and can be charged in just 17 minutes in the harbor – in Rødby.

About Scandlines

On the two ferry routes Puttgarden-Rødby and Rostock-Gedser, Scandlines transported more than 3.6 million passengers, 950,000 cars, and approximately 720,000 freight units in 2021 with seven ships over more than 38,000 departures. Six of our seven ferries are hybrid ferries, two of which are also equipped with an innovative rotor sail.