LNG

Bureau Veritas, the French maritime classification society, has taken delivery into its class portfolio of the LNG-powered newbuild cruise ferry “Salamanca” constructed for France’s Brittany Ferries in the Chinese Jinling shipyard.

The LNG-fuelled vessel will be able to carry more than 1,000m passengers and be operated by Brittany Ferries on its route between Portsmouth in the UK and the port os Bilbao and Santander in Northern Spain.

The “Salamanca” is the second “E-Flexer” class ferry to enter service with Brittany Ferries as part of its commitment to introduce cleaner and more efficient ships to its fleet in the next five years.

After its sister ship, “Galicia”, joined the fleet in December 2020, “Salamanca” will enter service in March 2022 and will be the first to be fuelled by LNG.

Brittany Ferries started life in 1972 as a freight-only service sailing from Roscoff in Brittany to Plymouth in the South of England with fresh vegetables such as cargoes of artichokes and cauliflowers to please the British palate.

Since then the company developed its “Atlantic Arc” ferry business linking France, the UK, Spain and Ireland.

Analysts noted that it has been a great success in reducing motorway traffic from tourists from the UK who can cut out France in travelling south to Spain and Portugal.

Brittany Ferries said that with a length of 214.5 metres, the “Salamanca” was designed with efficiency and the environment in mind.

The vessel is equipped with twin 12V46DF (dual-fuelled) engines from Finland's Wärtsilä.

The ferry will be supplied with LNG in the ports of Bilbao and Santander, enabling round trips between Spain and Portsmouth.

More LNG vessels

Brittany Ferries plans to deploy three more LNG-fuelled vessels in the coming years with the “Santoña” joining the fleet in 2023 on the The company added that the Portsmouth-Santander-Bilbao route, and two hybrid LNG-electric ships will enter service between France and the UK in time for the 2025 season.

“Renewing our fleet stands as one of the pillars of Brittany Ferries’ recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Arnaud Le Poulichet, Technical Director at Brittany Ferries.

“It goes hand-in-hand with sustainability, and will see the introduction of a range of cleaner vessels that will enable us to reduce our environmental footprint and deliver on our sustainability targets,” stated Le Poulichet.

Bruno Dabouis, Vice President Southern Europe, North Africa and North America at Bureau Veritas Marine and Offshore said BV has been involved in LNG propulsion and bunkering from the very start.

“We are proud to partner with Brittany Ferries as an environmental frontrunner, and we are looking forward to supporting ‘Salamanca’ and its operational life on the route across the Bay of Biscay from the UK to Spain, the longest Brittany Ferries route,” added Dabouis.

Gasum, the Finnish state-run natural gas company and leading Nordic LNG supplier, has named Mika Wiljanen as the new Chief Executive in succession to Johanna Lamminen, who stepped down after seven years in the post.

The Nordic LNG supplier, Gasum of Finland, has carried out its 200 ship-to-ship bunkering operation as maritime use of the fuel gathers pace in northwest Europe.

The Finnish gas market has opened up to competition with a wholesale market for pipeline natural gas after the transmission network was unbundled from LNG and gas firm Gasum.

Nov 28 (LNGJ) - The Nordic LNG supplier, Gasum of Finland, has carried out its first ship-to-ship bunkering involving a cruise ship. The operation took place at the Finnish Meyer Turku shipyard in the port of Turku and involved the bunkering vessel “Coralius” and Carnival Corp.’s newbuild “Costa Smeralda”. Gasum’s bunkering vessel has 5,800 cubic metres of capacity and began operating in 2017, supplying LNG fuel in the North Sea and the Skagerrak areas. “The ‘Coralius’ allows us to perform ship-to-ship bunkering to different types of vessels. We are happy that this now includes a cruise ship,” said Gasum.

Gasum, the natural gas company of Finland, posted annual pre-tax profits little changed from the previous year even as the value of liquefied natural gas sales increased by 29 percent because of higher oil prices.

Skangas, the Norwegian LNG distribution company owned by Finnish natural gas operator Gasum, has signed an agreement to supply regular volumes to biopower plant owner Porin Prosessivoima via the LNG import terminal in the port of Pori in Finland.

Jan 30 (LNGJ) - Arctia, the shipping company in Finland with a fleet of eight ice-breakers, said the world’s first LNG-powered ice-breaker “Polaris” had entered 2018 operations. The “Polaris” runs on both marine diesel and LNG. “The crew is very excited to begin ice-breaking duty,” said Pasi Jarvelin, the master of “Polaris”. Arctia said the vessel would be fueled with 700 cubic metres of LNG at the Finnish import terminal at the port of Pori before joining two other ice-breakers assisting shipping traffic in the Bothnian Bay area of the northern Baltic Sea.

Finnish power project company Wartsila, which also makes propulsion and gas equipment for ships, said it was awarded the contract to give Finland its third small-scale import and regasification facility at the port of Hamina.