Balearia said in a statement that the ferry has been chartered since March this year and it operates on the Malaga-Melilla route, according to LNG Prime. The firm did not say from whom it bought the ferry and at what price.
Norway’s Fosen shipbuilder delivered the ferry, previously named Honfleur, to Siem Industries on 22 May 2022, after 19 months of work at its yard in Rissa.
French shipping company Brittany Ferries ordered the LNG-powered ship at Germany’s Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) in 2017 for about $222 million and she was scheduled for delivery in 2019.
However, after many delays, this contract was cancelled in June 2020, when the vessel was half finished, as FSG filed for insolvency.
In the autumn of 2022 the vessel was taken over by Siem Industries and towed to Fosen’s yard in Rissa for completion.
The 187m ferry has LNG dual-fuel engines and an electric propulsion, while it is capable of sailing at 22 knots of speed. This ship has a capacity for 1,670 passengers and 2,600 lane metres of vehicle space.
With the purchase of the vessel, Balaria now owns 11 LNG-powered ferries, including converted vessels.
Spanish shipbuilder Armon Gijon recently launched Balearia’s second LNG dual-fuel fast ferry, Margarita Salas, which Balearia expects to start operations next summer.
Photo by Phil Barnes
