Offshore vessel charging station launched

Offshore vessel electric charging will be provided by Stillstrom, a new venture company launched by Maersk Supply Service

Part of AP Moller-Maersk, Maersk Supply Service supports the decarbonisation of the maritime industry by eliminating idle emissions and, together with Ørsted, Stillstrom will demonstrate what it says is the world’s first full-scale offshore charging station for vessels at an offshore wind farm, scheduled for installation later this year. 

Maersk Supply Service’s pioneering new company will deliver offshore electric charging solutions to vessels at ports, hubs and offshore energy operations.

Stillstrom (which means “quiet power” in Danish) is an early-stage technology spin-out enabling idle vessels to power from clean electricity, allowing vessel owners to replace fossil fuels with electricity while being safely moored to the charging buoy.

The first full-scale charging buoy will be demonstrated with offshore wind leader Ørsted in Q3 2022. The power buoy will supply overnight power to one of Ørsted’s Service Operations Vessels (SOVs), supporting Ørsted’s target of climate-neutral operations in 2025 with Ørsted responsible for the charging buoy’s grid integration.

Ørsted intends to make publicly available any intellectual property generated during the design of the buoy’s integration into the offshore wind asset, to maximise potential uptake.

The charging buoy is large enough to charge an SOV-sized battery or hybrid electric vessel.

The same solution will be scaled and adapted to supply power to larger vessels, enabling vessels of all sizes to turn off their engines when lying idle.

“Stillstrom is part of our commitment to solving the energy challenges of tomorrow. By investing in this ocean cleantech space at an early stage, we can help lead the green transition of the maritime industry. Stillstrom has been developed within Maersk Supply Service and the timing is right to create a venture that will be focused on delivering offshore charging solutions,” Maersk Supply Service chief executive Steen S Karstensen says.

Maersk Supply Service venture programme manager Sebastian Klasterer Toft says the mission is to remove 5.5 million tons of CO2 within five years of commercial rollout, additionally eliminating particulate matter, NOx, and SOx .

Stillstrom is fully owned by Maersk Supply Service and has received funding support from the Danish Maritime Fund and EUDP.

Click here for more information about Stillstrom.

Electrek reports the announcement is welcome news as climate pollution from the booming international shipping sector rose by nearly 5% last year, according to a new report from shipbroker Simpson Spence and Young.

It says Bloomberg reported ocean-freight carriers pulled in estimated profits of US$150 billion in 2021 — a nine-fold annual jump after a decade and that international shipping accounts for about 3% of global climate pollution.