Challenge #53

Setting new standards in German maritime shipping.

The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) is setting new standards for sustainability. The successor ship to the research cutter Uthörn will be the first German seagoing vessel to be equipped with an environmentally friendly and particularly low-emission methanol propulsion system.

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What will the ship of the future look like? Climate neutral! To achieve this goal, AWI has commissioned the construction of Germany’s first methanol-fueled seagoing vessel. Named Uthörn, the ship is being built as the successor to the former faithful research cutter by the same name and will feature a new, environmentally friendly and low-emission methanol propulsion system. Its biggest advantage its capability of using “green” methanol which, when combined with renewable energies, means that the ship can be operated almost CO2-neutrally. In addition, methanol dissolves very well in water and bacteria destroy it immediately, so it is not a major environmental hazard in the event of an accident. A central pillar of AWI’s coastal oceanography, Uthörn will regularly measure the physical, chemical, and biological state of the North Sea in the vicinity of AWI’s Helgoland and thereby provide us with valuable long-term data.

(Header: Fr. Fassmer GmbH & Co. KG.)