DNV: Ship/Train crossing the arctic

[Kristinn A. Aspelund]

A wild vision of the future or a realistic scenario? This year’s summer students in DNV have now presented their solution to the assignment entitled “Sustainable adaption to climate change – Arctic opportunities and threats”.
In the space of six weeks this summer, 13 hand-picked students worked on a concept. They chose the year 2050, by which time the Arctic Ocean will be free of ice all summer. And if ice forms in winter, it will be first-year ice that is easy to break. They call their solution AMV Njord – Arctic Modular Vessel.

This is a ship that is designed like a train and consists of several modules, each of which is 200 metres long. The ship’s maximum length is 1.8 kilometres. Since the ship-train is to sail right across the Arctic Ocean, there is very little need for detailed navigation and the navigation is otherwise based on advanced satellite technology. A sail attached to each ship-train module efficiently catches the wind at a height of 300 metres.

The students have designed a bow that rotates so that it can change from a normal bow for use in open seas into an ice-breaking bow. At each end, there is a 200-metre-long propulsion unit with an engine and submersible propeller thrusters. In addition to wind power, the ship is also run by hydrogen fuel cells.

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