RoPax13

10 / MARKET REPORT
which is 15% more than the previous year.
With a fleet of 30 vessels owned, in
addition to a dozen-chartered vessels,
Baleària operated 25 routes in six different
countries. By business areas, it should be
noted that 59% of turnover corresponds to
the passenger area and 36% to freight
transport. In addition, 75% of turnover
comes from domestic routes, while the
remaining 25% comes from international
connections.
In November 2024 new line will open
It is expected that, starting in November
2024, Baleària will connect the Dominican
port of San Pedro de Macorís with the
Puerto Rican port of Mayagüez, on a daily
ferry crossing of 133 miles. Adolfo Utor
owner and CEO of Balearia pointed out,
“This new regular service will be part of
the communication infrastructure and a
key driver for the progress, socio economic
development and connectivity of the two
regions”. He went on to highlight Baleària’s
experience of more than a decade on the
routes it operates between the United
States and the Bahamas. “We have a keen
interest in continuing to expand our
business model in the Caribbean area, an
emerging market with a great deal of
potential”. Baleària plans to invest 100
million dollars in the start-up of this new
maritime link, which will benefit from the
company’s strategic innovation and
sustainability, offering combined transport
for passengers, vehicles, and goods, with
daily and reliable connections.
As part of this public-private project,
Baleària will build a multifunctional
passenger terminal in the port of San
Pedro de Macorís (Dominican Republic)
and will adapt the existing facilities in the
port of Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) to bring
them up to European quality standards.
Both terminals will have a gangway and
finger jetty as well as a ramp to facilitate
the loading and unloading of vehicles.
Second Fast Ferry
The second super-fast ferry “Margarita
Salas” faces its final stretch at the yard
Armon in Gijón, where it has been afloat
since December 2023. In the second half of
May 2024 the new vessel has its relevant
sea trials. It is planned to start the regular
traffic from 15. of June on the Barcelona-
Ciutadella (Menorca)-Alcúdia (Mallorca)
route. The “Margarita Salas” as “G026”
IMO 9969730, increases its GT from the
12,262 of the successful operating sister
vessel “Eleanor Roosevelt” to the 17,769
GT. The propulsion system base on the
four dual Wärtsilä engines of 9,600 kW,
increasing power and efficiency by 10%
compared to the “El-eanor Roosevelt”,
which will allow the “Margarita Salas” to
maintain the 35 knots of service. On the
“Margarita Salas” there is a new passenger
deck and above the bridge the crew cabins
are located. Balearia will cover with this
huge fast catamaran a second fast connection
from mainland Spain to the Balearic
Islands.
Fleet is growing
Balearia expands its fleet by chartering two
vessels from the Grimaldi fleet with an
option to buy. The RoPax ferry “Ciudad de
Mahon” will be sail this season between
Barcelona and Ibiza.
The former “Eurocargo Sicilia” operates as
“EOS” RoRo freighter between Algeciras
and Tangier Med.
Baleària will invest 3.2 million euros in the
2009 built “Passió per Formentera” ferry in
order to guarantee greater comfort,
reliability and sustainability in the connections
made by the vessel on the line of
With the Eleonora Roosevelt, Balearia was able to increase its market share. This year,
a second catamaran „Margarita Salas“ with even more capacity will be put into service.
Balearia
public interest between Ceuta and
Algeciras. The company will allocate 2.7
million euros of its total investment to the
revision and maintenance of the engines,
as well as to the renovation of the ship’s live
work, which will optimize consumption
and reduce the ship’s emissions by 10%.
EMBOTECH, ARNOLD NEXTG
AND TERBERG FORM AN ALLIANCE
IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
AUTONOMOUS LOGISTICS SYSTEMS
Embotech, the provider of autonomous
driving systems, Arnold NextG, the
technology advance developer for
multi-redundant drive-by-wire systems,
and Terberg Special Vehicles, Germany’s
leading supplier of special vehicles, are
forming an alliance to develop autonomous
vehicles for use in logistics yards,
ports and other private areas with mixed
traffic.
Terberg Terminal Tractor YT193
The first autonomous vehicle is based on
the Terberg YT193 terminal tractor and is
currently being retrofitted. The YT193 will
be equipped with a multi-redundant
drive-by-wire system and a fully
autonomous vehicle kit. This technology
significantly increases the vehicle’s
operational capabilities and enables
autonomous applications in mixed traffic.
The central control unit from Arnold
NextG offers a vehicle-independent system
solution for fail-safe control of all primary
and secondary functions as well as secured
interfaces for all AD systems. As an
independent advance developer, incubator
and system supplier, Arnold NextG takes
care of the development and implementation
from vision to road approval.
Embotech, the system architect of
the project, is providing the fully autonomous
vehicle kit and its advanced L4
virtual driver, PRODRIVER. The fully
autonomous vehicle kit provides redundancy
for localization and sensing, ensuring
the highest performance in a variety of
weather conditions. PRODRIVER,
Embotech’s industry-leading solution for
autonomous navigation, motion planning,
tracking and control for autonomous or
highly automated vehicles, enables flexible
driving behaviour and precise manoeu-
Terberg
RoPax 13 / 05.2024