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The managing director of Becker Marine Systems GmbH & Co. KG, Henning Kuhlmann, has stated that the Hummel LNG hybrid vessel is providing green power exactly as it should be, and "working smoothly and at full capacity".

The Hummel project at Hamburg

Hummel (or 'bumblebee' in English) is an LNG-powered vessel developed by Becker Marine Systems that operates four large diesel engines to supply power to calling vessels. During ship layovers, Hummel can be hooked up to the onboard power supply and provide complete power to the vessel, allowing the vessel to turn off its own engines. This is designed to help reduce emissions overall and to improve air quality at the port of Hamburg.

Hummel supplying to AIDAsol

Since its launch last year, Hummel has already supplied the AIDAsol cruise liner with power during 11 Hamburg layovers. The average layover is around 8 hours from the morning to the evening, according to Kuhlmann, during which time Hummel supplied power to the vessel continuously. The record so far is generation of 40 megawatt-hours (MWh) of power during one session.

AIDAsol will have completed 15 vessel layovers by October 2016, each of which will receive green LNG power from the Hummel vessel. The barge sees most of its work during the AIDAsol cruise season where the Carnival-owned vessel makes calls more often at the port.

Kuhlmann hopes that these successful operations will encourage more cruise ships to switch over to environmentally friendly power supplies whilst in Hamburg.

Frustrations with slow certification

Despite the success reported by Becker Marine Systems, certification and approvals for the Hummel are taking longer than anticipated. This is due mainly to "inflexible restrictions", says Kuhlmann, as the supply vessel is still said to be in a test phase even after one year of successful operation.

According to Kuhlmann, individual parts of the hybrid barge have been certified, including all the major systems on board, but there is another inspection required for all the components and with AIDAsol before the vessel can be fully certified to supply LNG power to more ships within the port of Hamburg.