Gibdock has started the conversion of Baleària ropax ‘Napoles’ to operate on LNG as a fuel.
She is the first of six of the company’s ferries to be converted to burn LNG.
The engines will be modified and an LNG fuel tank will be installed. The work is expected to be completed by 15th February, 2019.
The ship be fitted with dual-fuel LNG/diesel engines produced by MAN Energy Solutions.
Burning LNG, ‘Nápoles’ is expected to reduce her CO2 emissions by 9,113.45 tonnes and NOx emissions by 871.37 tonnes a year, as well as fully eliminate all sulfur and particle emissions. The annual carbon dioxide reduction will equal the emissions of 6,000 passenger cars, Baleària claimed.
In addition, a Wärtsilä tank will be installed to be able to store up to 440 cu m of LNG maintaining the ship’s autonomous operation for up to 1,200 miles. The gas pipes will be supplied by Cryospain, while the engineering project was designed by Cotenaval.
Plans are also being drawn up to retrofit her sistership ‘Sicilia’ in the near future, the company said.
The total investment is €12 mill with 20% being funded by European Union Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) after the project involving retrofitting of five of the fleet’s ships was classified as excellent.
Baleària said that in addition to the ‘Napoles’ and ‘Sicilia’, it also plans to convert the ferries ‘Abel Matutes’, ‘Bahama Mama’ and ‘Martín i Soler’, as well as another ferry without help from CEF funds by the end of 2021.
Baleària is also currently completing the construction of the first two ropaxes with LNG engines to sail the Mediterranean — ‘Hypatia de Alejandría’ will begin operating at the beginning of 2019 and the ‘Marie Curie’ a few months later.
They are being built by the Visentini shipyard in Italy.
In addition, the company recently announced the construction of a fast ferry for passengers and cargo powered by dual-fuel LNG engines.
“The lower pollution, higher profitability axiom really works with this fuel,” Adolfo Utor, Chairman of Baleària, explained.“We plan to have at least half of our fleet of ferries sailing with this clean energy within the next three years and reach 100% of the fleet within 10 years.”
