Training a new generation of sailors for the energy transition

Enlit on the Road visited Rotterdam to speak to Frits Gronsveld, president of the board for STC group, to find out how their new sustainable training vessel is being used to train sailors of the future.

STC Group is an educational, knowledge and research institution for the shipping, logistics, transport and process industries.

The World Port Days in Rotterdam will host the christening of their new training ship, the Ab Initio. The ship is revolutionary in its design and its ambitions.

In this video interview with Enlit Europe's Patrick Bauduin, Gronsveld explains the vision for training a new generation of sailors for the energy transition.

“The ship is unique. First of all, in it’s the design for an inland shipping vessel,” explains Gronsveld.

“Second is its energy sources use, it's not only hydrogen, it [uses] the classic fuel, electricity, and hydrogen.”

Inland shipping industry is already a very energy-friendly form of transport but is aiming to become even more carbon neutral by using other sources of energy.

“We think our students are very important in that transition,” says Gronsveld.

“So that's why we train them and bring them into contact with green energy, electricity and hydrogen.

“As a whole, about 70% of all products are at one stage or another on a ship. So if those ships become more energy friendly, that means the shipping industry pays a big contribution to a more energy-friendly world.

More insights from Enlit on the Road - Rotterdam:
How the Port of Rotterdam is enabling the energy transition with hydrogen
Project visit: Residential power-to-gas
Stedin chief talks realising, optimising and digitising the energy transition

“If you look at the different kinds of types of fuel, they pose different challenges for students, and for ship owners, of course.

“We train our students for the here and now but also for the future. So one of the challenges was to have these three sorts of propulsion, energy sources, in the ship, which could run one after the other.”

The project was undertaken in close collaboration with various partners in Rotterdam.

Watch the video interview to find out more or see more videos from Enlit on the Road - Rotterdam.

Do you want to learn more about the differnt decarbonisation efforts in the port of Rotterdam and the Rotterdam municipality?
Register to join our Enlit on the Road live event on September 6, in... Rotterdam.