Ecoship

Peace Boat's Ecoship cruise ship is an eco-friendly passenger vessel concept created by "Peace Boat" (Japanese non-profit organization). Before Ecoship, Peace Boat operated themed cruises on chartered passenger ships. The new vessel was initially scheduled for delivery in June 2020 (Olympic Games in Tokyo) but the entire project was postponed due to the Coronavirus crisis.

Since its establishment in 1983, the Shinjuku Tokyo-based Peace Boat organization has launched over 90 ship cruises. They are manned by international volunteers traveling to regions that have experienced or are currently experiencing social unrest. Peace Boat cruises offer educational opportunities, with onboard held conferences related to global events. It also provides humanitarian aid at various port stops and visits local organizations.

In April 2014, in Germany Peace Boat held a workshop that gathered experts from various marine industry sectors, including vessel engineering and architecture, energy efficiency, renewable energy, maritime law. The workshop was themed on a new cruise ship design of an eco-friendly new vessel. In December 2015, Peace Boat revealed the "Ecoship" concept at the UN's 21st Climate Change conference in Paris France.

In June 2017, Peace Boat signed a letter of intent with the Finnish shipbuilding company Arctech Helsinki Shipyard to build the Ecoship cruise ship. The 750-cabin/2000-passenger vessel was scheduled for delivery in 2020-Q2.

Ecoship features nature-inspired architectural design developed by the company Oliver Design (Spain). The vessel also has a laboratory (observatory) for climate change and marine researches.

The 55,000 GT Peace Boat cruise ship uses hybrid propulsion (diesel-electric with Azipod units) in order to reduce CO2 emissions by 40%. The ship also features an aerodynamic (whale-inspired) above-waterline hull shape and non-toxic hull coating mimicking fish skin.

Public spaces and cabins are comfortable and spacious, appealing to the humans' connection with nature and also based on biophilic principles. The ship features an outdoor garden, aft-located open-air show lounge (amphitheater with tiered seating and pool deck with 3 jacuzzis), midship-located pool deck (with a rectangular swimming pool and a large jacuzzi), top-deck Sun Deck (combined with the ship's solar panels area), fore-located open-air panoramic lounge (amphitheater with tiered seating), panoramic (glass-walled) elevators, energy recycling, closed-loop water system, zero water discharge, highly reduced green gas emissions.

The vessel is equipped with kinetic floors, 10 retractable wind generators, 10 retractable photovoltaic sails, top-deck solar farm (sized 6000 m2 / 64580 ft2). The self-sustained garden uses recycled organic waste, recycled wastewater and rainwater.

The Peace Boat Ecoship is powered by dual-fuel engines using LNG (liquefied natural gas) and MDO (marine diesel oil). These are also future-ready hybrid engines running on biofuels. Cleaner-burning LNG is used as the main fuel for the engines. The photovoltaic sails (sails built with integral solar panels) and retractable wind generators (mounted on 10 masts) help the vessel to reduce the use of fuel during low wind conditions, which utilizes approx 20% less propulsion energy. The propulsion system is based on alternative fuel generated from galley/kitchen waste.

The ship's air-conditioning and heating are powered by recycled waste energy derived from the main engine. This reduces the onboard electricity load by about 50%. The ship's aerodynamic upper hull shape further saves fuel. The hull's air bubble lubrication system reduces the hull-water resistance.

The radical waste-energy recovery reuses 80% of the energy that is normally lost in the water and air. The energy storage is managed by a combination of hot and ice storage tanks and the latest technology for batteries.

The vessel is classed "Type C" and "PC7" (Polar Class 7 / ice class). This is also the world's first cruise liner that harnesses wind energy.