19 KIVI members had come to Veerhuis Land's End in Den Helder on this beautiful spring day. After lunch, chief technical officer Marc Bakker began the presentation with a general introduction about TESO (Koninklijke N.V. Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming). Notable in this was the much stronger current growth in passengers and vehicles than estimated by an independent agency during the specification of the newest ferry. Causes include the growth in the number of permanent holiday homes on Texel and the island's recent Top 10 ranking in European destinations by travel guide Lonely Planet. With peak capacity of 1,750 passengers for both base ship Texelstroom and standby ship Dr Wagemager, TESO today carries around 4.2 million passengers a year.

TESO's former chief technical officer and project leader Rint de Vries followed with a detailed account of the design, construction, propulsion, sustainable aspects and commissioning (late 2016) of the current Texelstroom, in its scale one of the most sustainable ferries in the world.

The ship runs on gas as much as possible with the 2 hybrid Diesel / Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) engines. In addition, there are 2 standby diesel engines. On the upper deck are large containers where the gas is stored overnight so it can be sailed for a day. Better for the environment, as compared to diesel, no soot and minimal particulate emissions.

Below the lower parking deck are 2 mirrored engine rooms, including large batteries of Lithium-Ion batteries to make power generation more sustainable. On the upper deck is 700 m2 of solar panels, producing about 2% of the ship's total power consumption. That doesn't seem like much, but it saves 40,000 litres of fuel!

After the presentation, we boarded for the crossing to Texel, with half the group above deck and the other half below deck. During the return trip to Den Helder, the groups were swapped.

Due to limited space, registration is no longer possible!

The board of KIVI Region North Holland has the pleasure to invite you to attend a lecture on and company visit to the ferry Texelstroom.

The Texelstroom is a hybrid Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or diesel electric Roll-on / Roll-off ferry that entered service from September 2016 to maintain the connection between Texel and Den Helder for shipping company TESO (Koninklijke N.V. Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming).

The ship is the second ferry to carry the name Texelstroom. From 1966 to 1992, the shipping company operated a ship of the same name.

In 2016, the new ship was the subject of many articles, lectures and visits as it was the cream of the crop in the sustainable ferry field.

Having sailed back and forth for more than two years, it is a great opportunity for a visit through our region.

Programme

12:00-13:00: reception with drink and coffee table at Veerhuis Land's End
13:00-14:00: presentation on TESO in general and the Texelstroom in particular (design, construction, propulsion, other sustainable aspects such as solar panels, operational experience, etc)
14:30-14:50: crossing to Texel, with half the group above deck and the other half below deck
15:00-15:20: return trip to Den Helder, with groups changed