A new step for the Port of Barcelona on its path towards decarbonization. The cruise ship Mein Schiff Relax has been the protagonist of the first bioLNG supply to a cruise ship in Barcelona waters, which was also the first ship-to-ship refueling operation of this biofuel.
It was the vessel Haugesund Knutsen —known as a barge— that supplied the fuel to the cruise ship, with more than 1,800 cubic meters of bioLNG, from the regasification plant that Enagás operates in the same port.
The operation, which took place at the end of July, represents a milestone for the Port, both for being the first cruise ship to receive bioLNG in its facilities and for being a ship-to-ship supply.
In fact, this has been the second bioLNG supply operation carried out on a ship in the Port, after Balearia loaded one of its ships in March, which on that occasion was done from a tanker truck. Supplying ship-to-ship not only speeds up the operation, but also multiplies by 15 the amount of fuel that can be supplied.
BioLNG, or liquefied biomethane, is produced from organic waste, and has the same characteristics as fossil LNG. For this reason, it can be used by any ship that is prepared to run on this type of fuel.
In this sense, the most modern cruise ships arriving at the Port of Barcelona already use LNG regularly. So much so that in 2024, 23% of cruise ships that called at the Catalan capital refueled with this fuel, which at the same time represents a less polluting alternative to traditional ones, with the aim of advancing towards decarbonization.
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