Forbes reports that a 650-foot Lomar Shipping bulk carrier completed an 8,500-nautical-mile voyage from Singapore to Ghana using Newlight’s hydrogen-diesel retrofit. The system was fitted to the vessel’s existing 10-megawatt engine and used a controller to meter hydrogen into the combustion process in real time.
According to results supplied by Newlight and reported by Forbes, the voyage used 24% less fuel, emitted 28% less carbon dioxide and reduced carbon monoxide by 22%. Those figures are company-reported operating results from the commercial voyage, rather than an independently published emissions study.
Newlight’s approach is designed as a retrofit rather than a new propulsion system. The company says installation can be completed in about two weeks while a vessel remains in the water. The controller continuously adjusts the blend, while the engine can still operate on diesel alone when hydrogen is unavailable.
The company currently targets replacing roughly 20% to 25% of a ship’s diesel use with hydrogen and expects that share could increase as hydrogen supply infrastructure expands. Newlight leases the equipment, arranges hydrogen supply and reports savings to operators instead of selling the system outright.
Newlight told Forbes it has 12 vessels under contract across three customers. It estimates that a comparable ship could save about $500,000 a year and recover the retrofit cost in under 18 months. These savings and payback figures are company projections and will depend on fuel prices, routes and hydrogen availability.
Co-founders Haran Cohen Hillel and Evyatar Cohen position the system as a practical bridge for ships already in service. Because the vessel still burns diesel, the retrofit reduces fossil-fuel use rather than creating a zero-emission ship; the climate effect of the hydrogen also depends on how that hydrogen is produced.