Stockholm tests electric ‘flying’ ferry

By

 AFP

One metre above the surface, a fully electric ferry is speeding across the waters of Stockholm as a Swedish company prepares to start taking its first regular passengers.

Equipped with three vertical wings, or hydrofoils, the craft is “able to fly out of the water when it’s going fast enough,” Andrea Meschini, head of R&D testing for the Candela P-12 ferry, told AFP.

“It’s amazing, it feels like the future,” Meschini said as he demonstrated the prototype off the coast of the Stockholm archipelago, adding that “it feels like a magic carpet.”

Thanks to sensors that constantly adjust the foils, the ferry maintains its stability. By levitating above the water it consumes “up to 80 percent less” energy than a regular boat, according to Meschini.

Since it minimises friction, the ferry is able to go much faster than conventional ferries with a top speed of 55 kilometres per hour (34 miles per hour).

The company, Candela, is due to start taking passengers between the island of Ekero and central Stockholm in October —  a busy route that should take 35 minutes with the new ferry, half the time it takes by land.

Under the agreement with SL — the Swedish capital’s public transport operator — Candela will only supply a single boat for the time being, with a capacity for 30 passengers.

Despite waves and the wakes produced by other boats passengers feel virtually nothing on board the shuttle.

Although the technology had already been developed — Candela produces smaller leisure flying boats — the larger ferry had to “fulfil a whole lot of standards to be seaworthy and safe for the passengers,” Karin Hallen, programme manager at Candela, told AFP. 

Candela is aiming to expand its technology on an international scale. 

According to Meschini, the sector has “a lot of potential because most of the big cities around the world are built around water.” 

“Yet it is not used and developed in terms of public transport. We want to fill the gap,” Meschini said.

Maritime transport is responsible for around three percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Tokyo airport trials driverless cargo vehicle

By

 AFP

Tokyo’s Haneda Airport is trialling a driverless vehicle to tow cargo containers in an attempt to get around labour shortages as the number of tourists flying into Japan soars.

The vehicle at one of the world’s busiest airports can tow up to 13 tons of containers, joint developers All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Toyota Industries said in a statement.

It can pull up to six containers at a time, trundling between aircraft and airport buildings over a distance of around two kilometres (1.2 miles) with no driver in the cab.

The Level 4 vehicle, meaning that it does not require human interaction in certain settings — although a human driver can still request control — has been in operation since July 1.

The trial, the first at a Japanese airport, is part of government-backed efforts to innovate the air transport industry, and the companies aim to make the vehicle fully operational by the end of next year, they said.

Another Japanese airport — Kansai, serving Osaka — claims never to have lost a bag, but the country faces major challenges as it seeks to double tourist numbers to 60 million by 2030.

The rapidly ageing country has the world’s second-oldest population and many sectors in the world’s number four economy are suffering worker shortages.

This year the country’s airports have reportedly already experienced aviation fuel supply problems, prompting the government last month to set up a task force.

Trials of autonomous vehicles have been implemented elsewhere in Japan, with the government allowing Level 4 self-driving vehicles on public roads since last year.