Conversion of ferries in the coastal areas: Towards a sustainable, accessible and integrated transportation

Abstract

It is important to consider the ferry transportation of passengers and goods in the rural coastal areas. There is a lack of research in the integration of passengers and goods in the rural areas. This has resulted in the thesis whose purpose is to explore how the integration of passengers and goods in the rural coastal areas in Bohuslän could be improved. This includes the accessibility aspect, both for passengers and the goods. Further, the purpose of the thesis is also to explore the potential renewable fuels that could be used onboard the ferries. The method that was conducted was a multiple case study with a mixed method approach. The case studies were conducted on different islands outside of Tjörn and Orust and were conducted to explore the current situations and the differences. The collection of data was both quantitative and qualitative data collected by observations, interviews and questionnaires. The collection of data resulted in a triangulation that enabled comparisons between the different data collections. The result showed that to increase both accessibility for passengers and goods, a floating pontoon together with hydraulic ramps could be used. It was found that if the accessibility for passengers increased, it could also lead to an improvement in the integration of passengers and goods. The design of the ferries needs to be developed to increase the efficiency of the integration of passengers and goods. Regarding the conversion to renewable fuel, the result showed that the best current solution would be to operate on battery ferries, together with a back-up system operating on HVO. An alternative to this could be to operate on a hybrid system with a smaller battery and HVO.