Decarbonizing City Water Traffic: Case of Comparing Electric and Diesel-Powered Ferries

Abstract

The maritime sector aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Consequently, shipping companies are investigating efficient and optimal ways to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. One of these measures includes vessels that operate on alternative non-carbon fuels. In this study, we compared a diesel-fuelled catamaran’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its fully electric sister vessel, which operates on the same line. This study showed that the GHG emissions of the electric vessel were only 25% of those of its diesel-powered sister vessel. However, this figure highly depends on the source of electricity in the operating country. In this case, the energy cost of the fully electric vessel was 31% cheaper than the cost of diesel energy and the payback time without possible subsidy for replacing a diesel ferry with an electric one would be 17 years and 6 months. We also showed that the additional energy from solar panels sufficiently covers several application options for consumers even in winter, when there is low solar energy production. This study brings more insight into the academic literature on decreasing maritime CO2 emissions from city water traffic. Regarding its managerial implications, our study findings can be used when shipping companies evaluate options for reducing their emissions. The results of this study show that using fully electric vessels has major benefits not only concerning carbon emissions but also financially.