Yinson GreenTech’s Big Bet: Electrification and Digitalisation Must Rise Together

In Southeast Asia’s race toward cleaner logistics, few companies have moved as assertively as Yinson GreenTech. And for Managing Director of marinEV, Jan-Viggo Johansen, the goal is clear: electrification will only scale if the industry treats it as a system, not a standalone product.

“We say that you cannot go electric without going digital,” Johansen told Digital Ship in an interview. “Energy efficiency becomes the most important thing once you work with batteries, and digital technologies make that possible.”

Founded in 2020 as an accelerator inside the Yinson Group, Yinson GreenTech set out to close what it saw as the missing link in the energy transition: an integrated, land-to-sea electrification ecosystem. What emerged were three interconnected pillars: chargEV (charging infrastructure), drivEV (e-mobility leasing solutions), and marinEV (marine electrification), all underpinned by Yinson GreenTech’s digital infrastructure.

Today, Yinson GreenTech is a complete clean-transport chain rather than a vessel builder alone. And its momentum is beginning to shift industry expectations of what electric maritime operations can do.

Electrification as an Integrated Ecosystem, Not a Standalone Vessel

While battery technology has matured rapidly, especially through advances from the automotive sector, Johansen said that marine electrification still lacks the infrastructure, regulations, and standardisation needed for mass adoption.

In the car industry, one standard, CCS2, now enables universal charging. At sea, nothing comparable exists. “That creates a barrier,” he said. “Regulation, infrastructure, and standards must move together.”

To solve this, Yinson GreenTech designed its marine business around ecosystem thinking: vessels, charging networks, digital infrastructure, and commercial models that reduce upfront cost.

One central challenge is the capital expenditure. While electric vessels offer dramatically lower operating costs, the purchase price remains higher than diesel. “We haven’t reached commercial scale yet,” Johansen admitted. Yinson GreenTech’s workaround is a leasing-based model that removes the steep upfront cost for operators and gives them predictable monthly fees.

This integrated approach is embodied most clearly in its two flagship vessels: the Hydroglyder and the Hydromover, which serve as proof-of-concept platforms for what an electrified port ecosystem can look like.

The Hydroglyder, a 12-meter hydrofoiling crew transfer craft, lifts itself above water at speed, cutting energy use by as much as 80%. “If you want high speed with batteries, weight and drag become critical,” Johansen explained. Flying above the water solves that. The vessel is now operating commercially in Singapore.

The Hydromover, meanwhile, was developed in response to Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) and Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) joint Call-for-Proposals. It eventually received R&D grants from both the MPA Maritime Innovation and Technology (MINT) Fund and SMI Fund for the first prototype, which featured swappable batteries to fit Singapore’s reality: limited quayside space and vessels that often anchored offshore at night. The Singapore government mandates that the current 1,600 vessels must turn fully green by 2050 in its efforts to decarbonise its maritime industry. 

Two years of operational data fed into the Hydromover 2.0, launched just weeks ago. This next-generation model delivers:

• 130 nm range (three times the prototype)
• 24-meter hull
• 30 tons cargo capacity
• 40 pallet space
• A full day of operation without charging

Both the Hydroglyder and Hydromover rely on IoT-enabled systems, joystick controls, and real-time connectivity via 5G or satellite, a marked shift from traditional harbour craft design.

Hydromover 2.0 enters commercial operations in Singapore this month, and contracts recently signed in Dubai and Fujairah will see the vessels deployed in the UAE early next year.

“Only when stakeholders come together – regulators, operators, shipyards, equipment suppliers – can we scale electrification,” Johansen said. “It’s 30% hardware, and 70% operational understanding.”

Why Digital Comes First, Even for Electric Boats

If electrification is the hardware, digitalisation is the operating system that makes it viable.

The Marine Digital Platform, Yinson GreenTech’s software and data infrastructure, is built not only to optimise routes and charging but also to measure what the industry has long struggled with: actual emissions from Scope 3 logistics.

Globally, Scope 3 emissions, those generated by outsourced transport, remain poorly quantified. Yinson GreenTech’s digital system records and verifies carbon emissions and savings for every voyage, and recently, Bureau Veritas certified its methodology. Operators now receive digitally issued, class-verified carbon saving certificates that can plug directly into reporting requirements and future carbon credit schemes.

But the company’s vision goes beyond emissions reporting. It wants digitalisation to reshape the operational pattern of entire ports.

Johansen explained that digital route optimisation can enable co-loading, where goods and personnel are consolidated into fewer trips. With a larger deck and longer range, Hydromover 2.0 was built for this. “If perfectly planned, one electric vessel could replace two diesel equivalent vessels,” he said.

Digitalisation would allow just-in-time operations within the port, reducing both vessel and truck idling. In congested hubs like Singapore, where hundreds of crew and cargo transfers occur daily, such optimisation is not just good for emissions. It is operationally transformative.

“Operating vessels is in our DNA, but electric vessels demand a smarter, more integrated approach,” Johansen said. “Digitalisation gives us the real-time visibility and predictive planning needed to optimise performance end-to-end and unlock the full potential of electrified marine operations.”

The Appetite for Electrification: Ready, But Still Waiting for Scale

Across short-sea shipping and harbour craft segments, Johansen sees strong enthusiasm for electrification, especially as hybrid propulsion is becoming increasingly common even in deep-sea vessels. “The market is ready,” he said. “But the commercial barrier remains the biggest challenge.”

Government support – both regulatory and financial – will be essential to bridging this gap. Singapore’s MPA has set a clear long-term vision for the transition, and further refinements in regulation and incentives will help accelerate adoption. Other regions, Johansen notes, will likewise need strong policy direction if they want electrification to move beyond isolated pilots.

For Yinson GreenTech, the long-term plan is clear: build the ecosystem, prove it works, and scale it across global hubs.

With digital platforms, charging networks, new commercial models, and now multiple operational electric vessels, Yinson GreenTech is positioning itself not just as a builder of next-generation boats—but as an architect of a new electrified maritime logistics system.

And if there’s one takeaway from Yinson GreenTech’s approach, it’s this: electrification thrives when digitalisation leads. Data, automation and smart energy management are what make zero-emission fleets reliable, scalable and commercially sound.

source : thedigitalship