Black Marlin departs with world’s largest electric ferry bound for South America

The world's largest fully electric ferry is now somewhere in the Pacific, heading south. Black Marlin, a 217-metre Boskalis heavy-lift ship, left Hobart this week with China Zorrilla loaded on its deck, beginning a delivery voyage to South America.

China Zorrilla is 130 metres long, built at Incat's yard on the Derwent River in Tasmania. Loading it was no small task. Black Marlin partially submerged so the catamaran could be manoeuvred into position by tugs, then the ship refloated and the cargo was sea-fastened for the long voyage ahead.

The ferry will eventually run between Buenos Aires and Colonia del Sacramento across the Rio de la Plata for Buquebus, the Argentine-Uruguayan ferry operator. Six crossings a day, carrying 2,100 passengers and 225 cars per run, all at 25 knots on electric power alone.

Four 2,400-kilowatt motors drive waterjets in the twin catamaran hulls. The energy storage system, a Corvus Dolphin lithium-ion bank, puts out 41.2 megawatt-hours, enough to run those crossings without burning a drop of diesel.

Departure from Hobart had been held briefly for final technical checks. Black Marlin eventually set off on 7 August. The journey to South America will take several weeks.

MarineRadar users have been tracking Black Marlin throughout its Hobart loading and now its voyage, keeping it consistently in the platform's top-searched heavy-lift ships this week.