The shipping company Baleària has begun the works of remotorización of the ferry Nápoles so that it can be propelled by liquefied natural gas. The ship arrived at Gibraltar's Gibdock shipyard on Monday, where the modification of the engines and the installation of the LNG tank will be carried out, the completion of which is scheduled for February's 15.
With this change of fuel the ferry is expected to be annually Nápoles stop emitting 9.113,45 tons of CO2 and 871,37 of NOx, and eliminate totally the emissions of sulfur and particles (which supposes 75,95 tons of SOx). The annual carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to the emission of 6.000 passenger cars (or to planting 18.000 new trees). It is planned that in the twin ship Sicilia This remotorization is also carried out later.
The total investment in this retrofit amounts to 12 million euros, an 20% of which will be defrayed through the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) funds of the European Union, which qualified as excellent the project submitted for the remotorization to LNG of a total of five vessels of the fleet. So, in addition to Naples, until the end of 2021 Baleària plans to change the engines of the ferries Abel Matutes, Sicilia, Bahama Mama y Martín i Soler, and from another ferry without the help of the CEF funds.
Liquefied natural gas is one of the fossil fuels most respectful of the environment. Its use implies the reduction of the CO2 emissions in an 30%, of the NOx in an 35% and the total elimination of the sulfur and particles, which has an immediate effect in the improvement of the quality of the air and the reduction of the greenhouse effect .
President of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, Noted that "We plan to have, in the next three years, at least half of our fleet of ferries sailing with this clean energy, and reach one hundred percent of the fleet within ten years".
