Portugal’s West Sea shipyard has started conversion works on Balearia’s ferry Hedy Lamarr, the last out of six vessels that will get LNG propulsion.
As part of the conversion, Hedy Lamarr’s MAN engines will be adapted to dual-fuel propulsion, allowing them to run on both LNG and diesel.
In addition, the yard will install two 565-cbm LNG tanks, enabling the vessel to travel about 1400 nautical miles on LNG, according to a Balearia statement.
Balearia said the ferry would also get smart ship systems.
Following the completion of this retrofit in March next year, Balearia will have six converted LNG ferries and three LNG-powered newbuilds in its fleet, it said.
The ferry operator started converting its ferries back in 2018. Earlier this year, it had welcomed its first LNG-powered fast ferry, Eleanor Roosevelt, as well.
The total investment for this LNG-powered fleet will reach about 380 million euros ($440 million). The European Union, under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, also provided part of the investment for the six conversions.