Recently the construction of the first fully electric watertaxi for Watertaxi Rotterdam has started. This was for Andries Ophof from RTV Drenthe reason to come and take a look and make some recordings.

In the coming year and a half, the well-known yellow-and-black watertaxi will be a landmark at the Alumax shipyard in Meppel. This first water taxiboat will be followed by another six taxiboats. Of the seven emission-free watertaxi’s, four will have a capacity of forty passengers and two boats will be suitable for twelve people and their bicycles. The seventh model will be a first as it will be powerd by hydrogen. On this scale, it will be the first time world wide that a boat will be operated entirely on this clean energy. The hydrogen watertaxi is being developed by the SWIM consortium, with financial support form the Municipality of Rotterdam, the Ministery of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Gieskes Strijbis Fund. The hydrogen-powered taxi will be put into operation, in any case, sail just like the rest of the fleet in the operation of Watertaxi Rotterdam. Before that happens, the parties in SWIM will be developing and testing both the boat and an entirely new propulsion system in the coming months.

The SWIM consortium includes Watertaxi Rotterdam, the maritime innovation agencies Flying Fish and ZEPP.solutions from Delft, and the social venture building studio Enviu.