VESSEL REVIEW | Sale Marasino II & Sarnico – Solar electric ferries to be operated in Northern Italy’s Lake Iseo
Sale Marasino IIAmpereship

VESSEL REVIEW | Sale Marasino II & Sarnico – Solar electric ferries to be operated in Northern Italy's Lake Iseo

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German shipyard Ostseestaal and its Ampereship business unit recently delivered two electric solar ferries to Lake Iseo near Bergamo in northern Italy.

The client was the responsible local authority of the operator Navigazione Lago d'Iseo. The two newbuilds, named Sale Marasino II and Sarnico, are among the first fully electric ferries in Italy, and they will operate as part of a scheduled public transport service on several routes.

Electric propulsion built for sustained use

Sale Marasino II Navigazione Lago d'Iseo Ostseestaal Ampereship
Sale Marasino IIAmpereship

"The two vessels are the first fully electric passenger vessels on Italian inland waterways and are completely battery-powered," Dirk Zademack, General Manager at Ampereship, told Baird Maritime. "The requirement set by the owner was to complete the daily operational profile on a single battery charge, which we succeeded in doing thanks to a sophisticated naval architecture and a corresponding system layout."

The lightweight catamarans with capacity for 140 passengers plus six bicycles and a scooter each have been optimised for a speed of 9.2 knots, but can reach a top speed of 10.6 knots.

Sale Marasino II Navigazione Lago d'Iseo Ostseestaal Ampereship
Sale Marasino IIAmpereship

The 26- by 6.6-metre (85- by 22-foot) Lake Iseo ferries each have two electric drives with an output of 100 kW, with electricity supplied by two battery banks with a total capacity of around 750 kWh and a high-voltage DC bus. The batteries are charged either by shore power with two 125Ah sockets or by solar panels that cover around 75 per cent of the roof area. Charging of the batteries using the solar panels can be done while the ferries are in transit, thus minimising any delays caused by downtime.

"The owner is presently decarbonising its transport operations," said Zademack. "After the first hybrid ship, this will then lead towards full emission-free shipping on the lake."

Zademack added that these are the first Ampereship vessels equipped with the newly developed electric rudder propellers supplied by Jastram. The vessels also feature Ampereship’s Smart Cruise Control for energy optimised sailing (eco mode), controlling the route impacted by wind and waves, and maintaining schedules with the lowest energy consumption.

Ampereship also installed an energy management system and a fleet management system. The latter transmits all relevant data such as consumption and speed to the shipping company in real time on a monitor at headquarters. This system also stores operating times and conditions, which a planned maintenance system then uses to dynamically plan maintenance cycles.

The recorded data are fed to the Smart Cruise Control System with big data to optimise the respective algorithms during operation.

The vessels are also equipped with anchoring systems. They also have safety equipment such as large liferafts and a Jason's Cradle for rescuing people in the water.

On-site final assembly of vessels

Sale Marasino II Navigazione Lago d'Iseo Ostseestaal Ampereship
On-site assembly of the ferries in ItalyAmpereship

Perhaps the most notable attribute of the new ferries is that they were delivered in sections and then assembled on-site in Italy, a process that Ampereship said lasted around four weeks.

"In addition to the technical requirements, the vessels had to be transported by road to Lake Iseo in the Italian Alps," Zademack told Baird Maritime. "This was not possible in one piece, but we also did not want to build a ship on a greenfield site by the lake, so we devised a construction method in which we only had to connect fully equipped, transportable large components on site. This has never been done before and enables shipping companies from many Alpine lakes to quickly put new emission-free vessels into operation without having to block their own valuable shipyard capacities."

Sale Marasino II Navigazione Lago d'Iseo Ostseestaal Ampereship
Ferry being launched into the water for the first timeAmpereship

Due to the special circumstances in Italy, Ampereship not only had to be compliant with ES-TRIN (European Standard laying down Technical Requirements for Inland Navigation vessels), the company also needed to fulfil a large number of RINA regulations.

"We are enthusiastic about the new construction method but have identified some potential for improvement that we will realise in our next project," added Zademack.

Sale Marasino II Navigazione Lago d'Iseo Ostseestaal Ampereship
Sale Marasino IIAmpereship
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