Shore power connection of the HANSEATIC nature successfully inspected

• After the EUROPA 2’s inspection, the shore power connection of the first expedition ship in the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet has now also been approved by the classification society DNV
• Inspection of the structurally identical sister ships HANSEATIC inspiration and HANSEATIC spirit planned for this year

Celebration at the Ostseekai: the HANSEATIC nature from the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet used green shore power on its last call in Kiel. At the same time, the classification society DNV carried out a series of technical tests to ensure undisrupted use and compatibility. Now that all the tests have been successfully completed, the HANSEATIC nature is ready to benefit from shore power. From now on, the expedition ship is able to use shore power anywhere in the world where this energy supply is available. Prior to this, a test phase was carried out during previous stops with lay time at a shore power terminal. The data will now be transferred to the structurally identical sister ships HANSEATIC inspiration and HANSEATIC spirit, with the aim of also having them approved this year.

Switching over to the shore power connection is a complex process. The small expedition ship HANSEATIC nature, the first of the state-of-the-art new expedition class commissioned by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, requires a voltage of 690 volts in port. This is significantly lower than on many larger ships, which is why a transformer on board reduces the power. The safety of the ship when using shore power is only guaranteed upon inspection and approval on behalf of a technical expert.

“We are delighted that the shore power system of the HANSEATIC nature has now been inspected. This brings us an important step closer to our goal of having the shore power systems of all new expedition ships approved,” says Julian Pfitzner, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. “The HANSEATIC nature made the start in Kiel this year and was the first of one hundred cruise calls that we plan to supply with green shore power in the coming months. We welcome the shore power strategy that Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is consistently implementing,” says Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG.

The use of shore power significantly reduces CO₂ emissions while the ships are in port. By 2030, TUI Group’s cruise operators, including Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, are set to reduce their absolute CO₂ emissions by more than a quarter (27.5 %) compared to 2019. These ambitious emission reduction targets have been independently and scientifically verified by the Science Based Targets initiative. After the luxury ship EUROPA 2, the HANSEATIC nature expedition new build is the second ship in the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet to have completed inspection of its shore power system by the DNV.

The structurally identical sister ships HANSEATIC inspiration and HANSEATIC spirit will benefit from the data stored during this undertaking. Their respective inspections are planned to be completed this year. This means that the majority of the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises ships – namely, four out of five – will be able to use shore power, provided it is available at the respective mooring points. For the HANSEATIC inspiration, this is expected to apply from June onwards. The ship will then moor in Bergen, Norway. The HANSEATIC spirit, currently en route in New Zealand, will set course for the South Seas, Micronesia, the Philippines, Japan and Alaska over the course of the year. In August, it will sail through the legendary Northwest Passage before arriving in Hamburg at the beginning of October. Inspection by the DNV will not be possible until then at the earliest, as there are currently fewer than 30 shore power facilities worldwide. These are located in selected ports in the USA, Canada, China and Europe – often far away from the exotic routes that the new expedition ships of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises frequently take.

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