EMEA News
Spain's Baleària Launches LNG-Fuelled Ferry
Spanish shipping company Baleària has launched its LNG-fuelled fast ferry the Margarita Salas.
The vessel was launched from the Armon Shipyard in Gijón on Thursday, the company said in an emailed statement.
The firm invested EUR126 million in the ship's construction.
The ferry is the firm's 11th to run on LNG as a bunker fuel.
"We already had an excellent ship in terms of navigability, comfort and passenger satisfaction, and we cannot help feeling proud of having taken another step forward with the Margarita Salas, which is sure to achieve even better results," Adolfo Utor, president of Baleària, said in the statement.
"We are adding to our fleet yet another ship that pays tribute to a pioneering woman in science, in this case an exceptional person and a leading figure in her field, molecular biology."
LNG remains the dominant alternative fuel choice for now, with supply set up at almost all major bunkering locations. But the future viability of LNG-fuelled ships will rely on the rollout of bio- and synthetic LNG at these ports as well, as shipping firms seek to deliver lower GHG emissions.
