The Eleanor Roosevelt, the sustainable ferry with the highest capacity in the world, is presented to the Valencian authorities

The pioneer fast ferry Eleanor Roosevelt of Baleària It has been presented this Wednesday in society in the port of Dénia. Around 200 representatives of different interest groups of the shipping company in the Valencian Community have been able to visit the world's first fast ferry with dual natural gas engines. Since last May 1, this sustainable and innovative catamaran connects the island with Palma and Dénia.

Adolfo Utor during the presentation

The host of the event, the president of the shipping company, Adolfo Utor, has been accompanied by the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, the president of the State Ports, Francisco Toledo, the mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, and the CEO of Armon Shipyards, Laudelino Alperi. The event, which has been carried out with the recommended security measures, has included a group visit to the new ship of the shipping company.

"The Eleanor Roosevelt is the best synthesis of universality, modernity and commitment to the territory, the best evidence that we are a company with a green heart and a sustainable spirit," said Adolfo Utor, president of the shipping company. Utor has emphasized the company's commitment and involvement with the Balearic Islands: “As a logistics and maritime mobility company, we have not stopped, not a single day, from being at the port to facilitate the transfer of people and the supply of goods and merchandise ”. He has finally asserted that the strength of Baleària it is efficiency and competitiveness, in a strategy at the service of the client and sustainability, at the same time as its commitment to the territories and their people.

Departure from the port of the Eleanor Roosevelt de Baleària

Ximo Puig, president of the Valencian Community, highlighted that Baleària represents the Valencian industrial and logistics fabric: "It is fundamental for the Valencian economy and I want to thank the effort that it makes to connect the Valencian Community with the Islands". In addition, he pointed out “The new ships have to be absolutely linked to the energy transition and decarbonisation and, therefore, it seems to me very good news that the Eleanor Roosevelt complies with those conditions. Also, I want to congratulate the company for the choice of the name, a great person and an absolute feminist at a time when it was very difficult to defend women's rights. "

Vicent Grimalt during the presentation

“We are a city by the sea, and it is exciting for us to see a ship like the new Eleanor Roosevelt fast ferry docked in our port, the longest in the world, and the first to introduce, at high speed, natural gas as fuel, which allows the reduction of C02 emissions ”, said the mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt. "The innovation of the Eleanor Roosevelt does not make it known that modernization and sustainability fit into this sea of ​​ours, and the size of this new ship tells us that we are a great port," he concluded.

For his part, Francisco Toledo, president of Puertos del Estado, has recognized "the work that Baleària is developing" with its commitment to gas. “That Baleària, today, has 7 ships powered by liquefied gas says a lot about its innovative nature, but even more relevant is its firm commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, which from Puertos del Estado we promote and share with the entire Community Port. Taking on these challenges is betting on the future of our society, and an incentive for our companies to be more competitive ”.

Ximo Puig and Vicent Grimalt during the presentation

The shipping company has invested 90 million euros in this fast ferry with capacity for 1.200 passengers and 450 cars, which has cafeterias and a children's area, a free digital entertainment platform, video surveillance of pets, Internet, among others. In addition, it has high-tech innovations to offer a comfortable journey and spacious and bright spaces. The Eleanor Roosevelt is the seventh Baleària ship to use natural gas, a fuel that reduces polluting emissions, which are monitored thanks to the measurement equipment and sensors installed on board, within the framework of a project co-financed by CEF funds from the European Comission.

Eleanor Roosevelt Presentation

The Eleanor Roosevelt, a pioneer in world maritime transport, has been built in the Armon shipyards in Gijón, with the participation of outstanding collaborators leaders in their fields, both international (Wärstilä, Incat Crowther, Bureau Veritas or Marintek-Sintef), as well as national (Cotenaval, Oliver Design and Jorge Belloch) and has received financing from CaixaBank.

Ximo Puig highlights the importance of having a logistics sector in the Valencian Community that contributes to the decarbonization of the economy

The president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, has vindicated the importance of having a logistics sector in the Valencian Community that contributes to the decarbonization of the economy.

Ximo Puig during the presentation of Eleanor Roosevelt

Puig has spoken in this way in the presentation of the new 'fast ferry' of Balearia Eleanor Roosevelt, a boat that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 30% and that the president has put as an example of the "leadership" of the shipping company in the ecological transition towards carbonization.

The head of the Consell has also pointed out, during his speech, that it is "essential" to learn the "lessons" provided by the pandemic, and one of them, he argued, is the need to have a powerful industrial and logistics sector, capable of compete and satisfy the demands of the domestic market.

Ximo Puig and Adolfo Utor

In this sense, he has been in favor of having a common European industrial policy that makes it possible to take advantage of the funds allocated to recovery to help strengthen the economic fabric and the projection of the logistics companies of the Valencian Community.

Puig has indicated at this point that the Valencian Community, which "has never been protectionist", should aspire to have a business fabric that overcomes atomization in order to increase its competitiveness. "We need to add, increase the capacity to collaborate, to cooperate and to make reindustrialization more effective," he added.

For this reason, "now that the reactivation begins and we can count on Next Generation EU funds, it is important that, through public-private collaboration, we strengthen the industrial sector and the European logistics projection", he defended.

As he has stated, despite the fact that there is a European agricultural policy, "there has never been a common industrial policy, and now it is more than ever necessary", remarked Puig, for whom it is essential that the Community be able to take advantage of the "great Decade of Opportunities "offered by recovery funds to achieve sustainability, resilience and digitization goals.

Puig has also referred to the relevance of tightening the "bridge" of communication by sea with the Balearic Islands to contribute, from the peripheries, to an "integrating, cohesive and non-centralist" vision of Spain. It is important to convey, from those peripheries, "that there is something more than a center that ends up engulfing a country," he said in this regard.

The president has also indicated that the connection with the Balearic Islands is a primary factor for the reactivation of tourist activity, something that will contribute not only to the economic recovery, but also to the emotional one. "This summer should be an open window to enjoy tourism in all its dimensions," he said.

The event was also attended by the Minister for Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility, Arcadi Spain.