Antonie, Zero-Emission Inland Cargo Vessel

Built to a 135-meter newbuild design, Antonie transports bulk salt between Delfzijl and Rotterdam without combustion engines. The vessel’s energy heart pairs containerized hydrogen storage with a Nedstack fuel-cell power plant and a lithium-ion battery pack for peak shaving. The result: dependable zero-emission voyages on one of Europe’s busiest inland corridors.

Operational reliability drove every decision. Class-supervised integration ensures safe ventilation, gas detection, and power isolation zones. The Nedstack PEM fuel cell provides continuous electric power for propulsion and hotel loads, while the battery handles transients and regenerative braking from the propulsors. Hydrogen is supplied in certified, swappable tank containers (300-bar), enabling quick turnarounds and scalable range without redesigning the hull. Shore power and digital monitoring reduce port emissions and simplify maintenance planning. Compared with a diesel baseline, Antonie removes CO₂, NOₓ, SOₓ and particulates from the route while cutting noise for crews and riverside communities.

Antonie shows that zero-emission doesn’t mean experimental, it means operational.

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Operational logic & energy regularity

The energy architecture is modular and predictable: hydrogen containers set the baseline, the Nedstack fuel cell delivers steady, efficient power, and the battery smooths demand peaks and maneuvers. An energy management system coordinates flows, maintains redundancy, and logs performance for continuous improvement. This straightforward logic makes training simple, bunkering fast, and replication across sister ships practical, turning a flagship into a template for clean inland shipping.