Baleària’s New Smart Ship Supplied with LNG in Venice

Baleària’s new smart ship with LNG engines, Hypatia de Alejandría, received recently its first LNG supply in the Port of Venice, Italy. 

Image Courtesy: Balearia

Constructed at Cantiere Navale Visentini shipyard in Porto Viro, the ship will be the first LNG-powered ferry to operate in the Mediterranean.

Hypatia de Alejandría has successfully completed its first sea trials and is expected to join Baleària’s fleet in early 2019.

A month ago, the company’s second smart ship newbuilding with LNG engines, Marie Curie, was floated out at the Visentini shipyard. Marie Curie will begin operating also in 2019.

Featuring a length of 186.5 meters and a maximum speed of 24 knots, the two vessels have a capacity for 810 passengers, 2,180 linear meters of cargo and 150 vehicles.

The company has invested approximately EUR 200 million (USD 226 million) in the two LNG-fueled ferries.

Apart from these two ships, the construction of the first fast ferry with LNG engines was recently announced. Furthermore, the first of the six ships in the fleet to switch to natural gas-propelled engines is being refitted.

Baleària plans to have at least half of its fleet of ferries sailing with this clean energy within the next three years and one hundred percent of the fleet within ten years.