Spanish shipping company and ferry operator Baleària has established a natural gas supply in the port of Valencia using a so-called multi truck to ship (MTTS) bunkering system in which several tanks operate simultaneously to supply fuel to the ship.
Baleària will use this new system daily, after the approval of Autoridad Portuaria de Valencia (APV – Valenciaport, Port Authority of Valencia), which guarantees the complete operation of ships operating with natural gas in that port.
The MTTS system allows simultaneous supply of several tank vehicles abd Baleària utilises a collector manufactured by Kosan Crinsplant, which has been optimized by the Valencian engineering Cotenaval, as well as tanks of the logistics company ESK.
During a test, natural gas has been supplied to the Hypatia de Alejandría de Baleària, which currently covers the route between Valencia, Ibiza and Palma.
The transfer speed with this system ranges between 80 and 120 m³/h, depending on the pumping characteristics of the tanks used. So, in bunkering carried out on December 29, two simultaneous tanks were used, with a transfer rate of 95 m³/hour, which allowed them to be unloaded in 55 minutes.
Cotenaval and Baleària coordinated both the operation, which allows to combine the load of natural gas with other simultaneous operations of boarding passengers, vehicles and merchandise, as well as its risk study.
The simultaneous supply of several tankers to ship is faster than the usual method, known as Truck To Ship (TTS), in which it can only supply a single tank.