At the moment it is still a possibility but various parties involved are working hard so that the refueling via barge of liquefied natural gas to the brand new Silver Ray cruise ship by Silversea, an ultra-luxury company of the Royal group, can take place in the port of Trieste as early as next July Caribbean.
According to what SHIPPING ITALY has learned, it should be Edison who will supply the fuel from next July until September and already today receives the LNG on a regular basis from Spain thanks to a barge (the Ravenna Knutsen) which collects the product and transports it to the onshore depot in the port of Ravenna inaugurated in 2021. The last obstacle to overcome appears to be the necessary green light from the port master’s office of Trieste without whose consent the refueling operations will take place, while the ship is moored at the Trieste Passenger Terminal, they will not be possible.
Silver Ray is the second ship of the innovative Nova Class delivered just a month ago by the German Meyer Werft shipyard to the Silversea company (Royal Caribbean group) and from next 8 July it will offer 11-day cruises departing from the port of Venice, calling in the Julian capital and arrival in Athens, with stops in the ports of Zadar, Hvar, Dubrovnik, Bari, Kotor, Corfu, Heraklion and Santorini.
To date, refueling has only been successfully tested once in Italy, in the port of La Spezia. ship to ship of LNG to the Costa Smeralda cruise ship which took place in 2020, while previously another refueling of a tug had been completed but via the truck to shiptherefore from land. The same method of refueling with liquefied natural gas via tankers from land has taken place in recent weeks in the port of Trapani where the new ferry Nerea taken over by Caronte & Tourist Isole Minori is in service to cover the route to the island of Pantelleria. In the future, the Sicilian shipping company intends to refuel its most modern ferries, always with the same method truck to shipbiogas, 100% sustainable fuel derived from organic waste.
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First truck-to-ship bunkering in Trapani for the Nerea ferry by Caronte & Tourist
LNG refueling on the Costa Smeralda in La Spezia has become a reality today
