France's First Hydrogen-Electric Powered Fishing Training Vessel Ready to Set Sail

The LPMA: Maritime and Aquaculture Professional School of Bastia will on November 15, 2024, inaugurate France's first hydrogen-electric powered fishing training vessel, dubbed Alba, which was designed by a MAURIC-led consortium.

Alba vessel has been specifically designed to include fishing training capabilities such as longline and seine techniques.

The vessel can accommodate up to 12 students and 2 instructors (crew).

With an overall length of 19.95 meters, the maximum length allowed by the LPMA specifications, and a beam of 5.60 meters, Alba features a large deck area whose layout was defined in close consultation with the LPMA teaching staff.

The vessel is fitted with removable winches and tackles for longline or seine fishing, with configuration changes possible within just a few hours. Space is reserved aft for a boat or fishing winch. Two hydraulic cranes complete the deck equipment.

Following validation of the general design, MAURIC completed all detailed engineering studies, particularly the interface studies between the H2 system (FCs, storage system and H2 network) and the vessel, specifically addressing safety aspects, fire prevention and fighting, ATEX zoning, in close collaboration with BV and consortium members.

In January 2024, the two 70kW EODEV REXH2 Range Extenders were integrated into the vessel, along with two 178kWh battery packs.

The vessel features fully redundant power-propulsion architecture with two propulsion lines, two 200 kW electric propulsion motors, two independent battery packs and two independent REXH2s powered by nine bottles of hydrogen compressed at 350 bars, totaling over 75 kg of hydrogen.

The vessel's outfitting was completed in spring 2024, culminating in the launch in July 2024 at the CN GATTO shipyard in Martigues, France.

Following successful dockside and sea trials, Alba reached her home port of Bastia, in Corsica on November 7, 2024

"This project represents a crucial milestone for MAURIC and our partners, but also for the entire French hydrogen sector, as Alba is not merely 'H2-ready'. She is indeed the first French professional vessel operating exclusively on hydrogen and batteries.

“With this project, we demonstrate that hydrogen can be a viable technical solution for certain vessel profiles, that the technology is ready, and that France possesses the expertise to design and build professional H2 vessels,” said Fabrice GHOZLAN, Sales, and Business Development Director at MAURIC.

The vessel was developed after the LPMA of Bastia, laureate of the France AgriMer 2021 call for projects, was awarded a $4.2 million budget for the development and construction of a Zero-Emission vessel through the France 2030 Recovery Plan.

In April 2021, it published a Call for Applications for the design and construction of a 100% hydrogen-electric powered fishing training vessel.

MAURIC, one of Europe's leading naval architecture and marine engineering companies, gathered a consortium with key players in the hydrogen sector and ecological transition, such as Alternative Energies, CN GATTO Shipyard and EODev, supplier of hydrogen fuel cell-based REXH2 Range Extenders, to respond to the LPMA's tender.