Germany’s inland waterway shipping company HGK Shipping has designed the first river-seagoing gas tanker in Europe to transport cold liquefied ammonia (NH3) and liquefied CO2 (LCO2).
Using the “Vanguard” project name, the river-seagoing gas tanker is 125 metres long and 17.50 metres wide is able to transport cold liquefied ammonia and liquefied carbon dioxide in its tanks.
The modern ship will not just travel along rivers, but it can also operate in European coastal waters and beyond.
As there is no need to tranship the cargo between different modes of transport, this transport solution creates huge value added.
This both applies to planned transport operations to supply hydrogen from Spain and Portugal, for example, but also to transport the CO2 that is expelled at the designated offshore fields, which are often located in the North Sea.
“The ‘Vanguard’ offers industry additional capacity to safely and sustainably transport liquefied ammonia and carbon dioxide from Scandinavia as far as the Iberian Peninsula and use the seaports as gateways to the network of European inland waterways,” highlights Steffen Bauer, the chief executive officer of HGK Shipping.
As it is reported by the company, the vessel runs diesel-electric drive and it will also be ready to be ammonia-fueled.
“The river Rhine in particular, the upper regions of which will be navigable for the ‘Vanguard’, offers an efficient alternative for pipeline structures, which either don’t exist or cannot be built in the short term, for industries that have a strong presence on this river,” Steffen Bauer noted.
