EMEA News
ECA Operator Christens New LNG-Fuelled Ferry
AS Tallink Grupp (Tallink), which operates ferries within the Baltic Emissions Control Area (ECA), Friday announced that its newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered fast ferry Megastar was christened the same day at the Meyer Turku Oy (Meyer Turku) shipyard.
The vessel, which is also capable of running on diesel, is said to be "environmentally sound" as its LNG-powered operations will enable the elimination of sulfur and soot particles, and will decrease nitrogen and CO2 emissions compared to conventional operations.
Slated for the ferry operator's Tallinn-Helsinki route, Megastar is said to comply with both current and future ECA regulations.
"The interesting part of our type of shipbuilding is that we have demanding customers that push the boundaries – also for the environment. So we are very happy that today our latest LNG ferry is taking shape and after 1½ years of design and production work starts to look like a ship," Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.
Tallink says the 49 000 GT, 212 metre-long vessel will have a 2800 passenger capacity and a service speed of 27 knots.
Float-out and sea-trials on the vessel are said to be slated for this month and late 2016, respectively, with vessel delivery set for the beginning of 2017.
The European Union (EU) Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is said to have granted €4.8 million ($5.35 million) toward the Megastar project.
In June, Finland-based Neste Corporation (Neste) Friday said that its low sulfur marine fuel offerings provided Tallink with an average 3 percent energy efficiency increase in its engines compared to HFO.
