There has been a ferry connection between Constance and Meersburg since 1928, which has proven to be extremely successful from the very beginning. Stadtwerke Konstanz is now setting another milestone in this success story with the introduction of the new ferry named “Richmond”, which is powered by LNG.
The new Lake Constance ferry has two high-speed MTU gas engines. The engines run exclusively on LNG (liquefied natural gas). They emit no soot, no sulphur oxides, significantly less nitrogen oxides and fewer greenhouse gases. In the future, the new ship can also be fuelled with bio-LNG from renewable energies, in which case it will be largely climate-neutral.
Visually, the Richmond resembles the Lake Constance ferry “Lodi”, which went into service in 2010: over 80 metres long and with a load capacity of 400 tonnes. This allows it to transport around 700 passengers and up to 64 cars. A striking feature of the new ship is the eight metre high ventilation mast, which is part of the safety system of the gas installation.
Flagship project in Europe
What is new is the fact that the two 8-cylinder MTU engines, each with an output of 746 kilowatts, are pure gas engines. They are powered by liquefied natural gas instead of diesel fuel. The core components of the drive were developed and manufactured in Friedrichshafen by Rolls-Royce Power Systems under the MTU brand - in other words, in the region and in the immediate vicinity, less than 20 kilometres from Meersburg.
The Gas Processing Unit (GPU) is the centrepiece of the gas supply system between the LNG tank and the Pressure Build-up Unit (PBU) - the gas processing unit. Various HEROSE valves are installed there and help to ensure safe operation. The tank contains liquid LNG at minus -163 °C. In the GPU, the LNG is converted back into a gaseous state. In the PBU, the gas is then pressurised to the pressure required by the engine for the feed.
The new ferry is one of the first inland passenger ships in Europe to be powered by high-speed pure gas engines. The MTU gas engine is already well below the limits of current emission guidelines (IMO III) without exhaust gas aftertreatment. “In the future, the Richmond will be fuelled with bio-LNG, which will make it largely greenhouse gas-neutral”, says Christopher Pape, press spokesman for Stadtwerke Konstanz.
