By gCaptain.
Maritime Partners in cooperation with Elliott Bay Design Group, e1 Marine, and ABB, today announces that the M/V Hydrogen One, the world’s first methanol-fueled towboat, will join Maritime Partners’ fleet and become available for charter in 2023 to meet the pressing demand for sustainable towboat operations.
Decarbonizing the towboat sector poses substantial challenges, particularly due to towboats’ inherent size, space, and weight limitations. Batteries are only suitable if you operate on fixed routes and can recharge daily, and a towboat’s limited storage capacity restricts the use of pressurized or cryogenically stored gases as fuels. There are also very few dockside facilities to load such marine fuels, which severely constrains a vessel’s range and functionality.
M/V Hydrogen One will be IMO 2030 compliant, and meet all requirements of the US Coast Guard’s Subchapter M regulations. The ship has been designed by Elliott Bay Design Group using proven, efficient technology throughout, from ABB’s electrical power distribution and automation[1] to e1 Marine’s methanol-to-hydrogen fuel cell[2], and it will be able to perform at standard operational speeds for up to 550 miles before it needs to refuel.
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