Climate Change: COSCO introduces biggest electric container ship

COSCO Shipping, a Chinese government-owned company, has introduced the biggest river-to-sea electric container ship ever, named the Green Water 01. This massive vessel, weighing over 10,000 tons, is fully electric.

The Green Water 01, a COSCO Shipping electric container ship, measures 119.8 meters in length, 23.6 meters in width, and 9 meters in depth. It has a design draft of 5.5 meters and can reach a maximum speed of 19.4 km/h (12 mph). This vessel sets various records in the marine industry, including its length, width, container capacity, deadweight tonnage (over 10,000 tons), and battery capacity (exceeding 50,000 kWh).

The electric container ship runs on a big battery with more than 50,000 kWh of power. Depending on how long the ship will be at sea, COSCO can adjust the number of battery modules it uses. For instance, they can add extra 20-foot battery boxes, each providing 1,600 kWh of electricity, to extend the ship’s range.

The ship’s captain, Wang Jun, mentioned to CCTV that when the Green Water 01 is fitted with 24 battery boxes, it can complete trips using 80,000 kWh of energy. This is about the same as burning 15 tons of fuel for a similar journey in a regular container ship.

COSCO Shipping mentioned that the Green Water 01 can save 3,900 kg (8,600 pounds) of fuel for every 100 nautical miles it travels, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 12.4 tons. After its successful launch, the Green Water 01 has started weekly service between Shanghai and Nanjing.