Baleària goes one step further to have an increasingly eco-efficient fleet. In this line, the shipping company plans to remotelize to natural gas five ferries of its current fleet in the next two years, in order to reduce polluting emissions from ships.
Ferries Naples, Abel Matutes, Sicily, Bahama Mama and Martín i Soler are part of this technological project, in which the shipping company will invest a total of 60 million euros. The use of LNG in these five vessels is expected to reduce more than 45,000 tons of CO2 annually, 4,400 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and eliminate sulfur and particulate emissions completely.
The first of the ships of the fleet that will adapt to the gas propulsion will be the Naples ferry, since it is foreseen that these works are undertaken during the wintering of this winter.
In addition to the gas remotorization of these five ferries, the company is also studying two other LNG projects and is building two smart ships at the Visentini shipyard in Italy, the first of which will be operational as of next February.
The president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, says that LNG is the fossil fuel most respectful of the environment and points out that “in three years the company plans to have nine ships sailing with this energy”.
Baleària has been working on projects related to liquefied natural gas since 2012. Thus, in addition to being a founding member of the Spanish Association of Natural Gas for Mobility (GASNAM), created in 2013, it has strategic agreements with Naturgy and Rolls Royce and Wärtsilä (for the construction of engines).
In addition, the company launched the first LNG energy generator on a passenger ship, the Abel Matutes, and has been running since 2015 an LNG training plan for its crew and ship inspectors.