Eitzen orders two battery-electric container ships

Norwegian shipping company Eitzen Group is reported to have placed an order with the Zhejiang Dongpeng shipyard in China for construction of what could be the world’s largest fully battery-electric container ships.

Each of the two ships will be fitted with about 100 MWh of battery storage, which will give the vessels a range of between 500 and 600 nautical miles (approx. 925 to 1,100 km).

Artist’s concept of battery-electric container ship (Photo: Eitzen)

The ships will operate on a ‘Green Freight Corridor’ running between Hamburg, Germany, Gothenburg, Sweden and Oslo, Norway. Maximum cargo will be between 900 and 1,000 containers (TEU).

LFP battery cells for the megapacks are set to be produced by Zen, a subsidiary of Eitzen, at a dedicated plant in Tonsberg, Norway. The cells offer approximately twice the energy density of standard li-ion cells.

The scheme is backed in part with about $20 million from the Norwegian government. A further $2.1 million grant from Enova will support installation of recharging equipment at Port of Oslo. This will have a capacity of around 7.5 MVA.

“Electrification is no longer a concept of the future,” said Fridtjof C. Eitzen, co-founder and CEO of Zen. “It is becoming commercially viable today on selected trade routes. Zen [was] established to lead this transition and to build the infrastructure required to scale electric shipping.”

The two container ships are expected to be completed in 2028 and enter service in 2029.