Seatrade Cruise Award for the "Environmental Initiative of the Year" LNG Hybrid Barge honoured once again

The LNG Hybrid Barge first supplied low-emission power to a cruise ship in the 2015 cruise season. Together with AIDA Cruises, Becker Marine Systems has now won the Seatrade Cruise Award for this environmentally-friendly innovation.

At the "Elb-Panorama" penthouse in Hamburg, Dirk Lehmann, Managing Director of Becker Marine Systems, accepted the award for the "Environmental Initiative of the Year" judged by an independent jury. "This award shows that we are on the right track with our ideas in the field of utilizing 'Liquefied Natural Gas' (LNG), the environmentally-friendly energy source," said Lehmann.

The LNG Hybrid Barge is making a lasting contribution toward improved air quality at port cities. Just this year, it supplied electricity to the AIDAsol cruise ship during layovers at the Port of Hamburg. By utilizing LNG, soot particles and sulphur oxides are no longer being emitted. Moreover, emissions of nitrogen oxides have been cut by 80 percent and CO2 by 20 percent. "Our successful pilot project has been honored for this once again," said Lehmann.

In addition to the Seatrade Cruise Award, the LNG Hybrid Barge had previously won the GreenTec "Travel" Award, the Baltic Clean Sea Maritime Award, and second prize in the 2014 German-Norwegian Business Award. During a visit to Hamburg just this spring, the Dutch royal couple, Willem-Alexander and Máxima, showed enthusiasm for the barge christened the HUMMEL.

The LNG Hybrid Barge will again be supplying low-emission power to cruise ships in the coming cruise season. Becker Marine Systems, the market leader for rudders and energy-saving maneuvering technology solutions, would in the future like to provide the pioneering technology to ferries, container ships, bulkers, and tankers as well.

This article was originally published on Marine & Industrial Report newspaper Vol 37  No.5  Issue last October 31,2015.