Ceremony held at SAMShipbuilding shipyard in Slovakia
The keel laying of the world's first LNG Hybrid Barge took place at a ceremony held at the "SAMShipbuilding and Machinery" shipyard in Komárno, Slovakia in the second week of the new year.
In the presence of representatives of the shipyard, AIDA Cruises, Becker Marine Systems andHybrid Port Energy (a subsidiary of Becker Marine Systems and the barge shipping company), thelaying of the keel was carried out following the tradition of placing a coin on the keel block priorto lowering the first section.
The start of cooperation between Becker Marine Systems and AIDA Cruises preceded this keellaying in the summer of 2012, with the aim of supplying environmentally friendly electricity tocruise ships during their layovers at port. The LNG Hybrid Barge currently under construction forthis is equipped with 5 generators from Zeppelin Power Systems. These produce a total power of7.5 MW (50/60 Hz) but with zero emissions of sulphur oxides and soot particles. The generatorswill be the first marine classified LNG Caterpillar engines to be delivered to customers.
The LNG Hybrid Barge will be delivered in the summer of 2014 - just two years after the projectbegan.
The 74.0 m long, 11.4 m wide and approx. 1.7 m draught barge will be stationed in Hamburg. ThePort of Hamburg will thus be the first one in Europe to be offering an external, environmentallyfriendly and low-emission power supply for cruise ships. In addition, the LNG Hybrid Barge isequipped in such a way that other potential customers can be supplied with heat and electricityin the winter, thus further improving the barge's "ecological footprint".
