Inland waterway shipping company HGK Shipping has held an official naming ceremony for the Blue Marlin diesel-electric dry goods vessel it has added to its fleet.
Diesel-electric canal vessel
The vessel, which will be used to transport steel and bulk materials for steel production company Salzgitter, combines a diesel-electric, future-fuel-ready drive concept with the ability to operate in shallow waters and has SeaFar technology enabling remote-controlled navigation. A solar module system generates up to 37,500kWh of electricity per annum, which can be used to power the vessel.
The Wattlab solar technology also supports the supply of energy on board – the power that is generated enables temporary emission-free operations for the vessel using the drive system with its rudder propellors, and this cuts the CO2 emissions by up to 36,000kg every year. It is also possible to feed the solar-produced power directly to the powertrain. The Blue Marlin has already been given the Gold Green Award in recognition of its sustainable design.
The design and development of the vessel were completed in close cooperation between HGK Shipping and Salzgitter. The Orsova shipyard in Romania manufactured the hull and De Gerlien van Tiem at Druten in the Netherlands handled the final interior fitting work on board the vessel.
Thanks to dimensions designed for canals – 86m long, 9.50m wide and a navigable draught of just 1.10m – the Blue Marlin is suited to shallow-water situations on central European waterways. The drive concept of two Veth rudder propellers and an additional bow thruster also enables the vessel to be coupled to a push barge and therefore transport loads weighing up to 3,110 metric tons.
Following the completion of the trial journeys with the SeaFar technology, the German General Directorate for Waterways and Shipping (GDWS) has issued a permit for remote-controlled navigation on the canal section between Salzgitter and Friedrichsfeld in Germany. 
Salzgitter’s sustainability goals
The Blue Marlin is the latest project to emerge from the long-standing cooperation arrangement between HGK Shipping and Salzgitter Flachstahl in the field of inland waterway shipping. The dry goods vessel will mainly transport steel and bulk materials along the network of canals in northwest Germany and will make the logistics operations at Salzgitter more sustainable.
Florian Bleikamp, managing director of HGK Dry Shipping, said, “The close partnership with Salzgitter is enabling us to specifically complete forward-looking projects. As we work together, we’re able to put innovative ideas into practice: ranging from emission-free solar technology to remote-controlled navigation for the vessels and even resource-saving drive systems in our fleet. The Blue Marlin is a strong symbol of what industry and logistics can achieve when they work in tandem.”
Fabian Gerdes, the head of customer logistics at Salzgitter Flachstahl, enthused, “We’re using this innovative vessel to continue our efforts to cut CO2 emissions and improve the efficiency and resilience of our supply chains. To achieve this, we’re increasingly relying on inland waterway shipping, which is particularly environmentally friendly when compared to other means of transport. In this sense, the Blue Marlin plays a key role in enabling climate-friendly transport operations for our steel products and bulk materials. It’s helping us to achieve a significant improvement in our carbon footprint in logistics, and it therefore perfectly matches the course that we’ve adopted to achieve greater sustainability.”
In related news, electric propulsion specialist ePropulsion recently collaborated with French boat rental company Les Canalous to create an electric canal boat. Read the full story here