Liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship refueling operations took place at the Spanish Port of Ferrol for the first time.
Two environmentally-friendly ferries, Samnøy and Huftarøy, which were recently built in Turkey, stopped in Ferrol to stock up on LNG on their way to the Norwegian fjords, where they will have their base.
The ships received 178 cubic meters of fuel from five tanks filled by Repsol at the Reganosa terminal.
The two operations were performed on February 23 and 24, respectively.
Samnøy and Huftarøy, built at the Tersan shipyard, will be deployed in the Norwegian fjords by shipping company Torghatten Nord.
With a length of 134 meters and a width of 21 meters, both vessels have been designed to transport up to 545 people and up to 180 vehicles. Their propulsion systems enable them to operate in a more ecological way.
The European Commission has laid out the objective for ports to provide LNG supply service. This is expected to be of great importance from the next decade. However, there are very few ports that are capable of performing such operations in Spain at the moment, the port authority said.
According to José Manuel Vilariño, president of the port authority, “Ferrol is very well positioned to attract customers of this kind of supply operations. It has LNG available in its port and is located in a strategic location, at the gates of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. These areas have been declared ECA zones and have their gas emission rates limited by maritime transport”.
In addition, Reganosa is working to convert Ferrol into an LNG hub of the Iberian northwest, adapting its Mugardos facilities to the new challenge of small-scale liquefied natural gas traffic.
Vilariño also stressed that the implementation of LNG as a marine fuel can benefit the city– due to its traffic increase – as well as several operators in the port of Ferrol. It will also favor the consolidation of Navantia as a world reference shipyard for the gas fleet.