Turkish boat builder Sefine Shipyard has won a prestigious order to supply Norwegian operator Boreal with five electric ferries.

The ferries will operate to-and-from the islands in the inner Oslo fjord and run sheduled services throughout the day. The Multi Maritime-designed vessels will each have a length of 35 metres, a beam of eight metres, and two passenger decks capable of accommodating up to 350 people.

The new ferries are part of Norway’s stated intention to electrify all passenger transport on Norwegian waters. The boats will replace the current diesel fleet. Turkish boatbuilder Sefine is racing to meet the contact’s tight deadline of having all five boats operational by 2022.

Volvo-powered

Each ferry will be supported by two Volvo Penta D13 MG IMO III generator sets (gensets). The ferries will be built under DNV-GL Classification regulations. And while truly electric, given today’s limitations in energy storage, should they need it, the vessels will be able to fall back upon range-extending power thanks to the best possible IMO III diesel solution from Volvo Penta.

The Volvo Penta gensets connect to the ferries’ own control systems and are approved to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO – EN 15940), a fossil-free fuel that reduces carbon dioxide emissions and particulate matter by up to 90 percent.

Volvo Penta will start supplying its IMO III gensets later this year, with the last two gensets being delivered by mid-year 2021.