At a windswept container park near the sprawling port of Rotterdam, a crane slots a 30-tonne white battery into a transporter vessel, enough to provide eight hours of zero-emissions freight.

The ship, the MS Den Bosch Max Groen, will ply the waterways between the ports of Rotterdam and Den Bosch using a pioneering system of swappable batteries, hailed as the world's first commercial deployment of the technology.

Organisers believe it could be game-changing for the inland waterway transport sector, while admitting there is work to be done to make it cost competitive.

The system is simple and time-efficient. While the ship unloads its cargo at one of three strategic locations near Rotterdam, a crane swaps out a depleted battery for a fully-charged one.

"The ship owner, or the shipper, doesn't lose any time for charging," said Michael Beemer, chief executive of Zero Emission Services (ZES), which provides the batteries.

The battery, known as a Zespack (or "six pack"), takes around three hours to charge and only 15 minutes to haul by crane into the ship, Beemer told........

© International Business Times