Maersk Supply Service launches offshore vessel-charging venture

Jan. 25, 2022
Together with Ørsted, Stillstrom will demonstrate the world’s first full-scale offshore charging buoy for vessels at a wind farm in 3Q 2022.

Offshore staff

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Maersk Supply Service has launched an offshore vessel-charging venture, Stillstrom, to support the decarbonization of the maritime industry by eliminating idle emissions.

The new company will deliver offshore electric charging solutions to vessels at ports, hubs, and offshore energy operations. “Stillstrom,” meaning “quiet power” in Danish, is an early-stage technology spin-out, whose full-scale product launch will be the first-to-market in offshore charging, enabling idle vessels to power from electricity, the company claimed.

Offshore charging for idle vessels allows ship owners to replace fossil fuels with electricity while being safely moored to the charging buoy.

Together with Ørsted, Stillstrom will demonstrate the world’s first full-scale offshore charging buoy for vessels at an offshore wind farm in 3Q 2022. The power buoy will supply overnight power to one of Ørsted’s service operations vessels (SOV). Ørsted will be responsible for the grid integration of the charging buoy.

Ørsted intends to make publicly available any intellectual property generated during the design of the buoy’s integration into the offshore wind asset.

According to Maersk Supply Service, the charging buoy itself is large enough to charge an SOV-sized battery or hybrid-electric vessel. The same solution will be scaled and adapted to supply power to larger vessels. By substituting fossil-based fuels with green electricity, virtually all emissions and noise pollution are eliminated while the buoy is in use.

Sebastian Klasterer Toft, Venture Programme Manager at Maersk Supply Service, said: “Our vision at Stillstrom is to enable maritime decarbonization, by providing the infrastructure that will allow vessels to charge from clean energy when idle offshore. The mission is to remove 5.5 million tons of CO2 within five years of commercial rollout, additionally eliminating particulate matter, NOx, and SOx.”

The new company is fully owned by Maersk Supply Service and has received funding support from the Danish Maritime Fund and EUDP.

01/25/2022