NEWS

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), a shipbuilding affiliate of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, launched two electric-powered passenger ships on June 14. The launching ceremony was attended by company officials as well as domestic and foreign guests from classification societies and ship owners.

The new ships feature power generation engines and storage batteries that produce and store electricity autonomously. A hybrid battery system uses the stored electricity during berthing, unberthing, and states of emergency, assuring safety and environmental compliance.

One of the ships is a 25,000 GT RO-RO passenger ship ordered by Steam Packet, the world's oldest passenger ship company. Maximizing passenger convenience with a low-vibration, low-noise design and luxurious interior, the ship will be put into service on the Irish Sea. With the size of 133 meters long, 25.7 meters wide and 14.7 meters high, the ship can carry up to 1,000 passengers, 238 passenger cars and 75 trailers at the maximum speed of 19.25 knots.

Another product is a 2400-ton high-tech passenger ship that converged four ICT technologies for the first time in Korea. The ship's liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual fuel engine system monitors the engine status in real time, while the electric propulsion system maximizes energy efficiency with variable speed DC Grid. It also adopted an intelligent integrated control system to link electric propulsion with various control systems, and the smart solution to provide guidance for berthing and unberthing as well as remote control. Promoted as an ambitious project by Ulsan City and public institutions, the smart passenger ship is expected to be delivered in October.