Intentional mistake on Japan's first Solar powered Cargo vessel

It is pathetic that such a reputed company want to tout using some solar power in the ship as equivalent to solar powered ship. Recently another houseboat was launched as "World's first solar powered houseboat" when again, its main propulsion is not powered by the sun. I guess people have to check out what it means to have solar powered boat/ship!


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Japan’s First (Barely) Solar Powered Cargo Ship Takes to the Waves

Although it’s being billed as Japan’s first solar powered cargo ship the amount of renewable energy onboard is so small that I frankly find it laughable. Although the Auriga Leader, a freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles, does have 328 solar panels on board they produce only 40 kilowatts of power, a figure which is a mere 0.2% of the ships overall energy usage. Here are some more details:

Solar Power Runs Lighting Onboard
According to the original ENN piece (sourced as AFP), company officials have said that the solar power on the 200 meter long ship currently runs the supporting lighting onboard as well as the crew living quarters. Which then makes it odd that they also say that the ship is the first in the world with a solar-based propulsion system.

Though company officials say they hope to generate a greater proportion of the ship’s energy from solar power in the future, with such a small percentage of power usage generated from solar (I imagine they could probably have reduced energy usage by a similar amount through simply swapping the regular lightbulbs with CFLs), they clearly have their work cut out for them.

The Auriga Leader has been developed by shipping company Nippon Yusen K.K. and the Nippon Oil Corporation.

Boat India 08

The three day Boat India 08 came and went Without causing much ripple in the marine community. The timing was unfortunate for the hard working organizers, who despite the tide against them, made a good show given the circumstances. First was the economic woes, then the Mumbai attack (people with limited knowledge of geography did not know that Mumbai is 2000 Km away from Kochi), and last the traffic blockade caused by some jobless political class to hold the rally in the center of the city.

The award night was well attended compared to the conference and exhibition adjacent to that. Having said that, it is thanks to Marine Biz Tv that such international events happen in Kochi and kudos to them for organizing it.