June 29, 2021. Baleària incorporates its Martín i Soler natural gas-powered ferry on the Barcelona-Eivissa route in Spain. The ship, which is the eighth in the fleet prepared to navigate using this cleaner energy source, will link the island with the Catalan capital on a daily basis.
The Martín i Soler is the fifth ship of the shipping company to which the engines have been adapted to navigate on liquefied natural gas (LNG). The transformation operation, which has been carried out in recent months at the West Sea shipyard in Viana do Castelo (Portugal), has involved converting the ship’s B&W 9L 48B engines, from the MAN brand, to dual 9L51/60DF engines, which in addition to being powered by natural gas, can use diesel. In turn, an LNG storage tank has been installed on one of the inner decks of it, which allows it to have a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles.
Thus, thanks to natural gas navigation, the Martín i Soler will stop emitting about 885 tons of NOx annually (-85%) and about 9,200 tons of CO2 (-30%), something that is equivalent to emissions of 6,000 cars or to plant about 18,000 trees.
On the other hand, sensors have been installed to monitor fuel consumption and emissions in real time, as has already been done on other ships in the fleet. It should be remembered that this is part of the Green and Connected Ports project of the European Union. Specifically, this is the first phase of the project for a future fleet control tower that will allow operations and ships to be managed more efficiently from different aspects, such as safety, preventive maintenance of equipment and commercial efficiency.
With the remotorization of the Martín i Soler, Baleària now has eight of the nine ships foreseen in its natural gas fleet plan (three newly built, and five remotorized). During 2021, the retrofit of the last of them is scheduled to begin: the Hedy Lamarr. It should be remembered that part of the financing of these operations comes from the CEF funds of the European Union.
The Martín i Soler has a length of 165 meters and a capacity for 1,200 passengers and 560 cars, with different accommodations such as an armchair, an upper armchair or a cabin to guarantee the comfort of the clients.
