The 119 m long Feadship superyacht “Breakthrough” was honored as “Maritime Ship of the Year” in the Netherlands. It is the first yacht with a diesel/hydrogen hybrid drive.
Shipbuilding associations in the Netherlands have honored innovative ships. A yacht was named “Ship of the Year” – the “Breakthrough”, which was built at the Feadship shipyard.
The Dutch Maritime Awards are intended to showcase the innovative strength of the country’s maritime industry – and this year particularly in yacht building: the “Maritime Ship of the Year Award” went to Royal van Lent/Feadship for the approximately 119 m long superyacht “Breakthrough”.
The shipyard received the award in particular for the yacht’s low-emission propulsion system. The “Breakthrough” is the first twin azipod hybrid superyacht with diesel/hydrogen-electric propulsion. It has a fuel cell output of more than 3 MWh and an internal energy storage system. In addition to the high degree of innovation, the jury also praised the courage to develop new regulations to accompany this project. The fact that Royal van Lent/Feadship is actively sharing the newly gained knowledge with the industry was particularly praised.
Further nominations
In addition to Feadship, other award winners were honored in various categories.
- The “Maritime Talent Award” went to Edwin de Hoog for his research into optimizing the transport of sand-water mixtures in dredging pipelines.
- The “Maritime Innovation Award” went to Breman Innovation for the remote-controlled lifting system “Eye Catcher”, which makes work at offshore sites safer.
- The “Maritime Achievement Award” went to Silvan Floor (Rotterdam Mainport Institute) for innovative teaching methods.
- The “Maritime Security Award” went to Teun van Schriek from the Royal Navy for the use of artificial intelligence in submarine searches.
A total of five award winners were selected from 15 nominees. The award ceremony took place on 3 November in front of several hundred guests from politics, business and the media – a strong signal for the importance of maritime innovations “Made in the Netherlands”, according to the organizers.
The Maritime Awards Gala is organized by the Maritime Awards Gala Foundation, which is supported by leading associations in the Dutch shipping and shipbuilding industry, including Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT) and the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR).
