Denmark says LightCraft aluminium ferries can use national passenger-ship rules

The Danish Maritime Authority has confirmed that planned aluminium ferries for Ærøfærgerne’s Ærøskøbing–Svendborg route and Samsø’s Hou–Sælvig route do not fall under the EU Passenger Ship Directive. They can be approved under national rules for smaller passenger ships in domestic service. Requirements from the HSC Code can be used instead when an individual risk assessment shows the ships reach the same level of safety.

OSK Design developed the ferries with the two municipal operators and Bureau Veritas. Chief design officer Kristian Carøe Lind said the aim is to give the routes the capacity they need while building the ships substantially lighter, saving more than 30% of energy and cutting the cost of charging infrastructure and the battery pack. OSK Design said an aluminium hull weighs under half of a traditional steel hull and lowers energy use by more than 30%.

Ærø Dagblad said the Samsø route ferry emits 7,200 tonnes of CO2 a year and the two sister ferries on the Ærøskøbing route together emit 7,800 tonnes, and that the ambition is to bring emissions from the ferry operation itself close to zero. The paper said funding to build the ships is not in place. It put the combined price of traditional steel-hulled electric ferries, with chargers in Søby, Fåborg, Ærøskøbing and Svendborg, at 1 billion, and said the state would need to provide substantially more than the 72 million Trafikstyrelsen has promised.