Texelstroom – for TESO
A flagship for sustainable ferry design
To handle increased traffic between the island of Texel and Den Helder on the Dutch mainland, the ferry company Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming (TESO) commissioned the Texelstroom ferry, choosing C-Job to deliver an innovative and sustainable design. The Texelstroom is the first passenger ferry to run on compressed natural gas (CNG), so C-Job applied our risk-based design approach for this vessel and also worked closely with regulators to ensure compliance.
Designed as the next generation companion to the Dr. Wagemaker, the new vessel had to provide a significant leap forward in both car carrying capacity and environmental performance, by integrating modern, sustainable technologies to align with TESO’s green goals.
Due to the remote and protected location where the Texelstroom operates, installing an LNG station or other infrastructure wasn’t possible. Nor could the vessel sail all day, every day, in rough seas using electric power and battery operation alone. C-Job therefore performed an operational profile analysis to optimize the vessel according to its business and operational needs.
At the heart of the vessel is a unique hybrid propulsion system, including diesel and dual-fuel engines that run on CNG. Using our risk-based design approach – which follows functional rules rather than prescriptive rules – we analyzed the risks inherent in the use of CNG to deliver a vessel design and engineering solution that mitigated those risks. C-Job’s design philosophy also played an important part in our work with regulators to ensure compliance for this pioneering vessel.
The Texelstroom now operates with an advanced energy management system including energy-efficient azimuth-propellers with nozzles, over 700 integrated solar panels on the top deck, and 1.600kW electric battery capacity. The underwater hull design was basin-tested and optimized using a scale model; while the superstructure aerodynamics were tested and optimized using a scale model in a wind tunnel. C-Job also answered the challenge of carrying capacity with a design that increased car capacity by around 15% compared to the Dr. Wagemaker, without a significant increase in the ferry’s footprint.