The construction of the Neo Orbis, a pilot ship for the H2Ships project, officially began with the keel laying ceremony at the Dutch shipbuilding firm Next Generation Shipyards.
The Interreg North-West Europe project H2Ships will show the hydrogen fueling and propulsion for ships is both technically and economically feasible, establishing the prerequisites for a technology’s successful market introduction.
The Neo Orbis will be the first electrically driven vessel in history, using sodium borohydride, a solid form of hydrogen, to transport energy. As a result, it will have zero emissions.
The ship’s construction was contracted out to Next Generation Shipyards last summer, and as far as we know, it should be finished by the end of the second quarter of 2023.
Following that, the Neo Orbis will represent the Port of Amsterdam, with trial sailings beginning in June 2023. The Dutch engineering firm Wijk Yacht Creations designed the ship, and H2 CIF designed the hydrogen installation.
The New World-themed Neo Orbis, which stands for “New World,” will go into service in 2024 and act as a scale-up for inland shipping, shortsea, dredging, offshore, and perhaps even patrol and navy vessels. According to Port of Amsterdam, preliminary research into this has already begun.
