FLAGSHIPS · Clean waterborne transport in Europe

The FLAGSHIPS project raises the readiness of zero-emission waterborne transport to an entirely new level by designing four and demonstrating two commercially operated hydrogen fuel cell vessels. The vessels include two design cases, pusher design and ferry design, and two demo cases, one in France (Paris) and one in Netherlands (Rotterdam). The Paris demo is a self-propelled barge operating as a goods transport vessel in city center of Paris, while the Rotterdam demo is a container vessel transporting goods between Rotterdam and Duisburg. For the demo vessel, a total of 1.6 MW of on-board fuel cell power will be installed, and 1.0 MW of this will be funded through FLAGSHIPS project. Both vessels will run on hydrogen produced via electrolysis powered by renewable electricity. Gaseous hydrogen will be used in the vessels' on-board hydrogen storage. Both vessels will be approved for safety.The project will cooperate over a broad base to complete the required safety assessment and approval for the two vessels, by applying and further developing the existing regulations and codes. The ship owners expect to maintain the ships in normal commercial operation after the 18-month demonstration period of the project and to this end, a solid support from local end-users and community has been gathered. The project will reduce the capital cost of marine fuel cell power systems significantly by leveraging knowhow from existing on-shore and marine system integration activities. European supply chains for H2 fuel and FC system technologies are strengthened by networking through the project.The consortium includes 13 European partners, with three ship owners Norled (NO), Future Proof Shipping (NL) and CFT (FR) (assisted by its support companies Sogestion (FR) and Sogestran (FR)); and the maritime OEM, integrator and design companies ABB (FI), SEAM (NO) and LMG Marine (NO & FR). World-leading fuel cell technology is provided by Ballard Europe (DK) and vessel energy monitoring and management by Pers-EE (FR). Management and dissemination activities are provided by VTT (FI) and Maritime CleanTech (NO), respectively.