• 29 Aug 2018

Spanish ferry operator Baleària plans to spend 60 million euros ($70.2 million) to convert five of its ferries to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel in the next two years.

Work on the first ferry Naples is expected to start this winter, according to a Baleària statement.

The other ferries to be converted to LNG fuel are Abel Matutes, Sicily, Bahama Mama and Martin i Soler.

The use of LNG in these five vessels will enable the annual reduction of emissions of 45,000 tonnes of CO2, of 4,400 tonnes of nitric oxide (NOx) together with the total elimination of sulfur and particulate emissions.

In addition to the repowering of these five ferries, the company is also studying two other LNG conversion projects and is also building two ships powered by liquefied natural gas at the Visentini shipyard in Italy, the first of which will be operational starting next February 2019.

Adolfo Utor, President of Baleària, stressing that LNG is the most environmentally-friendly fossil fuel, said that "over the next three years, the company expects to have nine ships that will sail with this fuel."

The company wishes to underline that it has started working on projects related to liquefied natural gas since 2012.

Besides being one of the founding members of the Spanish Association that promotes natural gas for maritime and terrestrial mobility (GASNAM), created in 2013, Baleària has entered into strategic agreements with Naturgy (with which it has signed an exclusive ten-year LNG supply contract) and with Rolls Royce and Wärtsilä (for motor vehicles).

Moreover, in 2017 it inaugurated the first LNG electricity generator on the passenger ship Abel Matutes, while since 2015 it has prepared a training plan for the LNG crews.

Source:  LNG World News - Balearia