LNG-powered ferry ‘Salamanca’ enters class portfolio of France’s Bureau Veritas to boost UK tourism
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.
Spain’s Repsol starts build-out of LNG bunkering stations for Brittany Ferries at Bilbao and Santander ports
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.
