Sweden’s Gotlandsbolaget and the Australian shipyard Austal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a design agreement of Gotlandsbolaget’s new passenger catamaran, Gotland Horizon X, which will be able to run on hydrogen.

The 130-metre high-speed catamaran will be able to travel at 35 knots, carry 1,650 passengers and have space for 450 passenger cars. Serving the Gotland route during the summer months, the vessel will be able to make the trip between the Baltic island of Gotland and the Swedish mainland in under three hours.

The ship is designed to be powered by compressed hydrogen, with water vapour as the primary component of emissions. It will have a multi-fuel, twin gas turbine, combined cycle solution that can also be powered by other fossil-free fuels including methanol, e-methanol or biogas. With a relatively simple adaptation of the turbines, it is possible to change the fuel from hydrogen to both gas and liquid fuels, says Gotlandsbolaget. It is also possible to mix hydrogen gas with, for example, biogas. The power output of the combined cycle solution is expected to be about 31MW although the system supplier has not yet been chosen.