British ferry operator P&O Ferries has held the naming ceremony for its second newbuild double-ended hybrid ship, P&O Liberté.
The “P&O Liberté” is the second of two identical Fusion-class hybrid double-ended luxury ro-ro vessels ordered by P&O Ferries in 2019 from China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI), and was signed for delivery on November 29, 2023. The first vessel, P&O Pioneer, was delivered on February 28, 2023, commenced commercial operations in June and was officially named on July 26th.
With a capacity of 1,500 passengers and more than 700 vehicles of all types, the “P&O Liberté” is suitable for passenger and vehicle commuting between islands and bays, and reduces carbon emissions by 40% compared to the same type of vessel that previously operated on the route. The vessel will be put into operation in the English Channel, mainly between the ports of Dover, UK and Calais, France.
This type of vessel is the first double-ended vessel with high-capacity battery hybrid propulsion built in the world. There are four battery rooms on board, equipped with a total of 1,160 large-capacity batteries, and the installed capacity of the batteries reaches 8.8 MWh (megawatt hours), which is equivalent to the sum of the battery capacity of 150 passenger electric cars. The vessel is able to maximize energy efficiency by recycling excess power into the vessel’s high-capacity batteries while sailing and ensuring that the power supply system remains in an efficient operating range.
It is reported that the vessel has a length of 230.5 meters, a beam of 30.8 meters, a service speed of 20.8 knots, and a completely symmetrical bow and stern structure. It is the first ship in the world equipped with two pod thrusters at the front and rear, which can realize 360-degree full rotary propulsion. Therefore, it can also realize two-way navigation from bow to stern, which can effectively shorten the time of entering and leaving the port and greatly improve the operation efficiency. This is the first time in the world that such a double-head design has been adopted for a large passenger vessel.
The fuel oil power generation propulsion mode and battery propulsion mode can be switched at the touch of a button. In particular, when the ship is operating in and out of ports and sailing offshore, it can be completely propelled by battery mode, thus realizing “zero” emission of pollutants and minimizing air pollution to ports and cities.
Moreover, the ship is highly automated, and all functions can be automatically controlled, with more than 12,000 alarm points and various control points throughout the ship. When sailing, the entire cabin can be made to know exactly what is going on in the cabin without the need for a crew member to be on duty.
The integrated information technology system includes more than ten sub-systems covering business functions such as analysis of passenger consumption behavior and crew management on board, providing information technology support for navigation and operation. The system also meets the requirement of dual-link redundancy, i.e., when one core switch fails, the other core switch can switch seamlessly