Candela P-12: The Ferry That Flies Above the Water
Urban ferries have always been slow, loud, and expensive to run. The Candela P-12 Shuttle flies above the water at 25 knots, produces zero emissions, and costs a fraction of diesel to operate.
Photo source:
candela.com
The Waterway Nobody Was Using
Cities around the world are surrounded by
water. Rivers, lakes, harbours, coastlines. Infrastructure that costs nothing
to build and sits largely unused for fast passenger transport because
conventional ferries are too slow, too polluting, and too expensive to run at
scale. The problem has never been the waterway. It has been the vessel. The
Candela P-12 Shuttle was built to change what a ferry is capable of, starting
with how it moves through the water.
A Ferry That Leaves the Water Behind
Here is what happens when the P-12 reaches
speed. Underwater wings beneath the hull generate lift. The entire vessel rises
clear of the water surface. Hull drag drops by 80 percent. The ride becomes
smooth and nearly silent. No wake. No vibration. No noise is competing with the conversation. Passengers sit above the waves as the vessel moves at 25 knots,
twice the speed of most urban diesel ferries running the same routes today. A
computer reads the water conditions 100 times per second and adjusts the wings
accordingly, keeping the vessel level regardless of wave height or wind. The
experience from inside the cabin is closer to a quiet train than anything that
has ever run on water before.
The Range Problem That Held Electric Ferries Back
Most electric ferries are confined to short
fixed routes because conventional hulls consume enormous amounts of energy
fighting water resistance. That energy drain limits range and demands expensive
charging infrastructure at every stop. The P-12 bypasses that problem entirely.
By lifting clear of the water, it uses so little energy that 40 nautical miles
of range at full speed becomes achievable on a single charge. It plugs into
standard fast chargers, the same kind used for electric cars, reaching a full charge in under an hour. No purpose-built terminals. No grid upgrades. No
infrastructure investment that makes the economics collapse before the first
passenger boards. A 160-nautical-mile voyage from Sweden to Norway, the longest
ever completed by an electric passenger vessel, was completed using existing
charging stops along the coast at a total electricity cost of just over 200
euros.
Already Running in Real Cities
The P-12 entered public service in Stockholm in
late 2024, carrying daily commuters on a live urban route. Over 30 units have
been sold to operators across Norway, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives, India, and
the United States. Norwegian operator Boreal AS placed an order for 20 vessels,
the largest electric ferry fleet order ever placed. Docking takes two minutes
from full speed to passengers disembarking and back again, enabling the kind of
high-frequency service that makes water transport genuinely competitive with
road alternatives.
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