TRIESTE – The presentation took place yesterday in Ravenna at the Rosetti Marino shipyards, but Venice takes credit for the first integrated supply system for large ships powered by LNG (Liquid Natural Gas).
The Panfido group, in collaboration with the Port Network Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea, has illustrated the characteristics of the record platform. It is the first system able to transport more than 4,000 cubic meters of LNG and one thousand cubic meters of fuel oil on board a ship. It is the first system in the world composed of a platform carrying two giant tanks at controlled temperature, able to “fit” in its bow part the stern of a tugboat destined to become an integral part of the platform itself and to move it in full safety; it is the first European project of real conversion towards sustainable energies for the shipping sector to have crossed the finish line in a sector characterized until now only by big projects and big ideas.
The list of primates and records concentrated in the module presented yesterday in Ravenna are numerous and were highlighted both by the top management of Panfido (the company of the Calderan group that manages the port towage activities in Venice and Chioggia) and by those of the Port Authority of Venice.
The platform named Cargo Unit and the tug, destined to start operating in the Northern Adriatic from next spring, are an integral part of the first autonomous liquid natural gas (LNG) supply system with maximum operational flexibility and ability to source from different coastal depots and then supply the liquid natural gas to ships.
The SBBT (Semi Ballastable Barge Transporter) system, developed in collaboration with the North Adriatic Sea Network Authority, has been realized in a technical-operational project by Panfido of Venice. The project is worth about 40 million Euros, 9.5 of which are funded by the European Union.
The platform, combined with the tug, is 109 meters long by 26.7 wide. It has a variable draught between 3.7 and 6 meters. Integrated with the tug, it develops a speed of 7 knots.
«For us – said Davide Calderan, president of Rimorchiatori Riuniti Panfido – the commitment in this sector by the content so innovative is not only a new frontier and a new business, but a concrete commitment result of a conviction and a real commitment, to enter not with words but with facts in the world of environmental sustainability».
«For our shipyard – said the CEO of Rosetti Marino, Oscar Guerra – this is an innovative challenge that we intend to pursue in the years to come, committing our professionalism that is rooted in the history of Ravenna as a great capital of know-how in the field of energy and in particular natural gas».
«It is an important step – said the president of the Port Network Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea, Fulvio Lino Di Blasio – for the energy transition of the ports of Venice and Chioggia and not coincidentally our Authority has committed itself in the first person in the project LNG Poseidon Med II».