Adbri and The CSL Group have commenced operations of the MV Yampu, a battery-powered self-unloading bulk carrier that will supply limestone to Adbri’s Birkenhead cement plant in Adelaide, Australia.
The 125m vessel will transport limestone from Adbri’s Klein Point quarry on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. It has a capacity of 11,900dwt and is expected to carry approximately 2.7Mt of limestone annually, increasing the capacity of this raw-material supply route by 35 per cent.
Klein Point limestone has supplied cement production in South Australia for more than a century. Adbri said the new vessel would strengthen the reliability of its integrated quarry-to-plant supply chain, supporting locally manufactured cement for construction and infrastructure projects across South Australia and Victoria.
The MV Yampu has a 6758kWh battery system, which is recharged while the vessel is docked at the Birkenhead plant. It is expected to operate on battery power for around 40 per cent of the time, reducing annual diesel consumption by more than 500,000l and Scope 1 emissions by 40 per cent compared with the MV Accolade II, which it replaces.
The vessel has also been designed for conversion to fully electric operation in the future. It is owned and operated by CSL and crewed by Australian seafarers.
