Balearia has announced that it is shortly due to commence the construction of its first gas-powered, high-speed catamaran, which the company claims will also be the world's longest and highest-capacity fast ferry catamaran.
The 125-metre-long vessel is to be built at the Armon shipyard in Gijon, northern Spain, in a project costing
EUR 90m, with aluminium cutting scheduled to commence in December and the ferry's entry into service slated for the summer of
2020.
According to Balearia, the vessel will be propelled by
four Wartsila dual-fuel LNG/diesel engines each delivering 8,800 kilowatts (kW).
The catamaran will also be equipped with
two LNG storage tanks, enabling it to travel
400 nautical miles without refuelling.
"The use of liquefied natural gas allows us to fulfil our commitment to the environment and energy efficiency, while also remaining one step ahead of the new pollutant gas reduction regulations scheduled for 2020," said Balearia president
Adolfo Utor.
As previously reported, Balearia is also building
two new, dual-fuel, gas-powered ferries at the Cantiere Navale Visentini shipyard in Italy. The first is expected to be operational from next February.
And the LNG-fuelled ferry that was ordered in 2016 from Construcciones Navales del Norte SL (LaNaval) shipyard in Sestao, Spain, is scheduled to enter into regular service in 2019.
Meanwhile, the first of a number of LNG retrofits is due to take place this autumn.
Balearia had previously announced that the conversion programme would be for
five of its existing vessels (Bahama Mama, Martin i Soler, Naples, Sicily and the previously retrofitted Abel Matutes), whilst on Thursday the company said that, in fact,
six ships would now be converted to gas propulsion.
Balearia has also upped the estimated cost of the retrofit project from
EUR 60m to
EUR 72m. It follows the
confirmation on October 10 that the European Union had awarded a grant of EUR 11.8m towards the project, which at the time was said to be 20 percent of the total cost.
Balearia notes that it plans to have at least
half of its ferry fleet running on LNG within the next three years, and all of its ships using the gas fuel by 2028.
The Spanish ferry operator currently has
30 vessels in its fleet,
26 of which are owned.
