Mr Nick Potter, general manager of Shell Shipping and Maritime for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, said at the launch: “By August this year, we will have three of these fully-electric ferries in operation, and we’ll look and we’ll learn from these ferries and understand what’s possible as we go forward around electrification.”
He added that Shell sees electrification of port operations, harbour craft, and short sea shipping as a key enabler towards achieving net zero carbon.
CLEANER RIDES
Shell worked with Singaporean shipbuilder and shipowner Penguin International on the electric ferry project, the first for the oil giant globally.
When all three vessels are eventually deployed, they will transport some 3,000 passengers a day between mainland Singapore and Pulau Bukom, located off Singapore’s southern coast.
The 200-passenger vessel comes with the promise of a cleaner and more efficient ride.
It can go at 21 knots, or nearly 40km per hour, which is “a lot faster than some of the other electric ferries that have been launched in Europe so far”, Mr Potter later told CNA938.