The ferry “Sicilia”, retrofitted with natural gas, returns to Balearia

Balearia now has a sixth ship in its fleet ready to sail powered by natural gas, following the completion this week of the retrofitting of the ferry “Sicilia”, the fourth operation of this type carried out by the shipping company. The work was done at the West Sea shipyard in Viana do Castelo (Portugal). The mentioned ship is expected to operate soon on the Barcelona-Ibiza route.

The work to adapt the engines of the ship “Sicilia” began at the end of February and was completed last week after successfully conducting sea trials. A tank with a capacity to store 425 cubic meters of LNG has been installed, allowing it to have a range of 1,100 nautical miles. Additionally, the MAN9L48/60 engines have been adapted to the 9L51/60DF version, which allows navigation on gas as well as fuel or diesel.

This is the second ship of the shipping company to have a series of sensors installed that will allow real-time monitoring of fuel consumption and emissions of the ship. Thus, the ships “Sicilia” and “Bahama Mama” are the first two vessels to include this system in Balearia's fleet, which is part of a European consortium participating in the European project Green and Connected Ports, funded 50% by CEF Transport funds. In 2022, five ships in the fleet will have this monitoring.

Photo: Salvador de la Rubia