Electric short-sea cargo ships ordered in China

Netherlands-based ÈTA Shipping and Mercuria, a Cypriot-domiciled Swiss energy and commodity trader, have joined forces to order six, option ten, short-sea general cargo vessels at Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering Co. Ltd. in China.

The 7,400dwt ÈTA 6700 ships have been designed without a main engine, but will instead use an electric motor to drive the propeller. The ships’ generators can be fuelled by conventional or low-carbon fuels.

It will also be possible to connect any sustainable power source in the future, such as batteries or fuel cells running on hydrogen, for example, or green methanol or ammonia. The power arrangement will give the ships a service speed of 10.5 knots when fully laden.

ÈTA Shipping will hold a small stake in the owning company, Mare Balticum BV, a subsidiary of Mercuria. With a high level of automation, the ships will be safely operated with a crew of four instead of six, the companies said. The first vessel is due for delivery in the second quarter of 2025.

Co-founder of ÈTA Shipping, Sam Gombra, explained: "The modular design of the vessels allows for an easy replacement of a power source, which can be anything as long as it produces electricity. We estimate that it will take less than a day to remove the existing power generation system and replace it, fully or partially, without the need for a shipyard. The ÈTA 6700’s efficient design has been achieved without compromising speed or cargo carrying capacity, and at a comparable newbuild cost versus conventional vessels."

His colleague, co-founder and naval architect, Walter van Gruijthuijsen, added: "The vessel’s 3D management tool, that uses over 1,300 sensors, enables virtual navigation, equipment data access, and historical trend analysis for crew and technical staff."

Mercuria Energy Transition director, Mindaugas Gogelis, commented: "Three features make these vessels truly unique: future-proof design, efficiency, and automation. Designed with efficiency in mind, ÈTA vessels are already 30% more efficient than a conventional newbuild and about 50% more efficient than the average ship in the legacy fleet."

Larry Johnson, global head of Freight and Shipping Trading at Mercuria, said: "The embedded flexibility in ÈTA 6700 design will allow us to offer a tailored decarbonisation pathway optimised to the specific needs of cargo owner or operator. We can go as fast as technical solutions become commercially available."