LNG

Repsol has inaugurated its second supply terminal for liquefied natural gas bunkering for ships arriving in the northwest Spanish port city of Santander, especially its main customer Brittany Ferries.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by regional authorities and Repsol’s divisional Executive Managing Director Juan Abascal.

The new facility has a cryogenic tank with a storage capacity of 1,000 cubic metres in addition to the terminal that Repsol already has in the nearby port of Bilbao.

“This new terminal, that we have just inaugurated is another step in Repsol's commitment to the energy transition and the decarbonization of the maritime sector,” said Repsol’s Abascal.

Both terminals are part of the collaboration agreement that Repsol signed with French shipping company Brittany Ferries in 2019 for the supply of LNG as maritime fuel for its operations in Spain.

Flexibility

“In the design of the Santander terminal, operational flexibility has prevailed, allowing access for any type of vessel and also covering the needs for LNG refuelling of a medium-sized vessels,” said Repsol.

“In addition, the facility allows the simultaneous loading of passengers and fuel, optimizing operations on land and in maritime traffic, which leads to a reduction of emissions in port operations,” Repsol added.

The Brittany Ferries vessel “Santoña” will carry out regular operations at thr new facility in the port of Santander.

The new terminal is co-financed by the European Commission through the CEF-Connecting Europe Facilities Program.

“Advancing towards a carbon-neutral economy is a key priority of the European Commission,” said Richard Ferrer, Head of the Transport Innovation Team at the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.

Brittany Ferries, the French line that links the UK with Spain and France, has also been introducing newbuild roll-on-roll-off passenger and freight vessels connecting Portsmouth in England with two French ports.

The Brittany Ferries services cover a dozen ports: Spain’s Bilbao and Santander, the UK’s Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth, the Irish port of Cork and the French ports of Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Ouistreham, Saint-Malo and Roscoff.

Spanish energy company Repsol has started the construction of the liquefied natural gas bunkering terminal in the northwest Spanish port of Bilbao to supply the Brittany Ferries company and its LNG-powered vessels linking to port in Northern France, the UK and Ireland.

The first two vessels to be provided for are the “Salamanca” and the “Santoña”, which will start their operations in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The Bilbao terminal will also supply other ships with LNG fuel in the future.

“The construction of this terminal is part of the long-term collaboration agreement formalized in 2019 between Repsol and Brittany Ferries for the supply of LNG to their operations in Spain,” Repsol explained.

This facility is scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of 2022.

The Bilbao terminal will have a cryogenic tank with a storage capacity of 1,000 cubic metres.

“The flexible design of the terminal will allow it to service different vessels in the future, representing an important decarbonization opportunity for port operations,” stated Repsol.

Joint effort

The Spanish company said the start of construction is on schedule thanks to the efficient collaboration between Repsol's engineering teams, the different administrations involved and the Port Authority of Bilbao.

Repsol said it was commited to industrial development for fuel and the bunkering venture involves an investment of more than €10 million ($11.7M).

Repsol is also planting the construction of a second LNG bunkering at another northwest port, Santander. It will have the same capacity as Bilbao and is being developed in cooperation with the Port Authority of Santander.

Work has already begun on the conditioning of the quay where the bunker station will be located.

Both terminals are co-financed by the European Commission through the CEF-Connecting Europe Facilities Programme.

Spain currently has six operational LNG import and storage terminals around the coastline and they will provide supplies of fuel.

Repsol cited data from the Iberian Association of Natural Gas for Mobility (Gasnam), showing that the current fleet of LNG-powered ships worldwide is 221, which represents 70 percent growth compared with the 131 ships that were sailing in 2018.

Brittany Ferries, the French line that links the UK with Spain and France, has celebrated the launch of its cruise-ferry “Galicia” and the start of work on another LNG-powered vessel, the “Salamanca”, at the Avic Weihai shipyard in Shandong in eastern China.

The newbuilds are part of the Breton company’s 550 million euros ($607M) fleet renewal programme.

Its very first LNG-powered ship, the “Honfleur”, is currently under construction at the Flensberg shipyard in Germany and will enter service on the route from Portsmouth in the UK to Caen in France in 2020.

The “Honfleur” and the “Salamanca” will be joined a year later by a third LNG-fueled sister ship to be named “Santoña”.

“While ‘Galicia’ will be fitted with funnel exhaust gas cleaning systems, ‘Salamanca’ and ‘Santoña’ will be amongst the first ferries of their type to be powered by LNG, offering significant environmental advantages over traditional marine fuels, burning more efficiently and producing no sulfur, virtually no particulates and 95 percent less nitrogen dioxide,” said Brittany Ferries.

“The 215-metre long hull of ‘Galicia’ was majestically floated out at a traditional Chinese ship-launching ceremony,” said the company.

“Then, alongside in the building dock the very first steel was cut for fleet mate ‘Salamanca’, marking the beginning of the ship’s construction,” it added.

When complete, the two ships will serve Brittany Ferries’ long-haul routes connecting Portsmouth to Santander and Bilbao in northern Spain, with “Galicia” due to enter service in late 2020 followed by “Salamanca” in the Spring of 2022.

“It gives me great pleasure to be here in China to celebrate the launch of ‘Galicia’ and the start of work on ‘Salamanca,” said Brittany Ferries Chief Executive Christophe Mathieu at the ceremony

“Our customers rightly expect our fleet to be modern, comfortable and efficient, with the promise of minimal environmental impact from operations and we can only achieve this aim with the very best, innovative new ships,” added Mathieu.

“The ‘Galicia and ‘Salamanca’ are perfectly suited to our long-haul Spanish operations, and will allow us to further enhance our service to holidaymakers and hauliers taking advantage of these routes,” stated the CEO.

Mathieu also mentioned the uncertainty facing the company over Brexit, as a long-time and popular ferry company for British passengers and freight.

“As a French company operating ferries between the UK, France, Spain and Ireland, we are, for sure, concerned by the current political uncertainty in Europe,” he said.

“But we are certain of the course that Brittany Ferries will follow in the years to come. And these brand new ships are tangible evidence - in steel - of our confidence and optimism looking ahead,” added Mathieu.

The three 42,200-tonne “E-Flexer” class ships will be among the biggest in the fleet of Brittany Ferries, measuring 215 metres long, with around three kilometres of space for cars and lorries.

Brittany Ferries currently has 11 ships carrying between 2.5 million and 2.7M passengers each year travelling in approximately 900,000 cars.

Freight trucks number 210,000 annually and there is one freight-only route linking Bilbao in Spain with Poole in the UK.

The company’s services cover 11 ports: Spain’s Bilbao and Santander, the UK’s Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth, the Irish port of Cork and the French ports of Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo and Roscoff.