HGK Shipping’s new gas barge

STAYING AFLOAT

GAS BARGING • PERSISTENT LOW WATER ISSUES ON THE RHINE HAVE PROMPTED INNOVATIVE DESIGNS IN NEW TANK BARGES, AS A PROJECT FROM HGK SHIPPING ILLUSTRATES

ISSUES WITH LOW water on the Rhine have also focused the attention of companies shipping and carrying gases on the waterway. HGK Shipping is one of them and has developed an innovative design for a vessel that is scheduled to join the fleet in September this year and will work under a long-term agreement with a major chemical industry customer.

The Gas 94 concept was developed by HGK Shipping’s in-house design centre, working in collaboration with transport managers at the company’s head office in Hamburg. The hull, which is 110 metres long and 12.5 metres wide, was built in Szczecin, Poland and moved to the TeamCo Shipyard

THE USE OF INLAND WATERWAYS IS COMPARATIVELY

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BUT RECENT ISSUES

WITH WATER LEVELS HAVE DISCOURAGED RELIANCE in Heusden, the Netherlands, for outfitting.

After extreme low-water situations have repeatedly occurred on the river Rhine during the last few years, HGK Shipping has put its faith in a building design that is optimised for extremely low water levels for its Gas 94; as a result, it can completely meet the customer’s special requirements for the vessel. The Gas 94, for example, can continue travelling along the Rhine even if the water reaches a critical level of 25 cm near Kaub. This is possible because of the buoyancy features of the vessel’s hull, which has been proven by numerous calculations, simulations and real tests, and by the ingenious planning work for arranging components like cargo tanks and the drive technology.

GREEN AND CLEAN But it is not just continuity of shipping capacity that is at the heart of Gas 94; it has also been designed to meet or exceed expectations for environmental performance, as Anke Bestmann, managing director of HGK Gas Shipping, explains: “We’re meeting the challenges of the ongoing process of climate change in two senses with the Gas 94. We’re minimising the carbon footprint caused by transport operations and can, in contrast to traditional vessels, also guarantee basic supplies for the recipient of the goods, even if water levels are extremely low – this is an outstanding, unique feature in our sector.”

Steffen Bauer, CEO of HGK Shipping, is convinced that the new vessel is a “significant milestone in terms of innovations and sustainability in inland waterway shipping”. The forward-looking hybrid drive system contributes to this too. The main power train on the Gas 94, for example, consists of three electric motors, each with a rating of 405 ekW, and each supplying a rudder propeller with electric energy for travel and manoeuvring purposes. The electric motors are fed by the latest diesel generator sets with a waste gas treatment system. HGK Shipping’s new gas carrier therefore meets the Stage V emissions standard and reduces CO² emissions by up to 30 per cent as a result of the hybrid concept.

Other pollutants are significantly minimised too. NOx emissions are at least 70 per cent lower, for example, than with traditional drive systems, according to the CCR2 standard. Thanks to an ingenious power management system, it will even be possible to travel fairly short trips using just the electric motors.

“The Gas 94 is a trail-blazing innovation for inland waterway shipping,” the company states. “It joins the ranks of a series of in-house innovations in what is now HGK Shipping. The team has been repeatedly developing new kinds of ship designs for several decades to handle the wide variety of requirements for industry and these are setting new standards for the sector overall. The Design Centre at HGK Shipping is already preparing to present more innovations during the next few months.” www.hgk.de