On 4 February AVEMAR DOS of Baleària entered the Navantia shipyard in Cádiz to have her engines replaced.
The €9 million retrofit, which will completed in May, involves the replacement of the current engines with the latest version of the same model (Rolls-Royce MTU 1163 M84).
The new engines are more efficient and more powerful, reducing greenhouse gas emissions: by 33% for NOx and by 8% for CO2.
Fuel consumption will be reduced by 8% thanks to the latest electronic injection management systems and an improved combustion.
The AVEMAR DOS was previously re-engined six years ago.
AVEMAR DOS is an Austal AutoExpress 82-metre Catamaran with a capacity for 855 people and 174 vehicles. The ship operates on the Algeciras – Ceuta route together with the PASSIÓ PER FORMENTERA. During, the re-engining the AVEMAR DOS will be replaced by the JAUME I, once the Irish Sea’s STENA LYNX II.
In the last three years, Baleària has carried out two other similar re-engining operations on the high-speed vessels RAMON LLULL and JAUME III (ex SEACAT DIAMANT). Baleària has a strong eco-efficiency and sustainability focus with many conventional ferries in the fleet being converted to LNG.
AVEMAR DOS will be known to many as the SUPERSTAR EXPRESS which operated for P&O Ferries from 1998 to 2005, firstly at Portsmouth then from 2000 on the Larne – Cairnryan and Troon routes. AVEMAR DOS was then sold to Buquebus for their Algecrias – Ceuta route. She joined the Baleària fleet in 2008 when they took over the service from Buquebus.
