The ship “A Galeotta” from the company Corsica Linea, in the port of Ajaccio, January 5, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
The shipping company Corsica Linea inaugurated Thursday in Ajaccio its first ship partly powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), which will allow the absence of smoke emissions near the coast during its crossings between Marseille and Corsica.
“It is the first new ship in Corsica for 11 years (…) and the first ship to serve Corsica with LNG”, welcomed Pierre-Antoine Villanova, general manager of Corsica Linea, created in 2016 on the ashes of the Société Nationale Corse Méditerranée (SNCM).
Baptized “A Galeotta” (a reference to the flagship of Pascal Paoli’s fleet), this ninth ship of the company, which can accommodate 150 cars, 170 trailers and 930 passengers, will operate the Marseille-Bastia line on weekdays and Marseille-Ajaccio on weekend.
The ferry, whose first commercial crossing will take place on Sunday evening, will be powered by LNG “initially on part of the crossing and gradually on its entirety”, underlined the general manager of the company with red boats.
Pierre-Antoine Villanova, general manager of Corsica Linea, during the inauguration of the ship “A Galeotta” in Ajaccio, January 5, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
To start, the “A Galeotta” will be powered for “a quarter of the crossing” on LNG near the Corsican and Marseille coasts and, for the remaining three quarters, on 0.1% light fuel oil, added Mr. Villanova, who claims to have invested “180 million euros since 2019 in environmental transition”.
Corsica Linea was criticized at the end of 2021 by several environmental defense associations for having obtained an exemption from the French State to use more polluting fuel through the use of smoke cleaning devices called “scrubbers”.
The latter can operate in an open or closed circuit, polluting the seabed in the first case. Corsica Linea currently has five ships equipped with scrubbers, two of which are closed loop.
At the end of December, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) endorsed the creation of a “sulphur oxide and particulate emission control area” over the entire Mediterranean from May 1, 2025.
Five of the company’s ships have already applied these Seca standards for limiting sulfur content in fuels “since 2020”, Villanova said.
The Archbishop of Ajaccio Francois Xavier Bustillo proceeds to the blessing of the ship “A Galeotta”, during its inauguration on January 5, 2023 in Ajaccio (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
Sailing on LNG amounts to reducing fine particles and sulfur by “99%”: “for the inhabitants of Ajaccio or Bastia, it is the emission of zero smoke”, he summed up.
“Compared to a traditional crossing, 20% of greenhouse gas emissions will be avoided and 85% less nitrogen oxide emissions”, also noted Amaury de Saint-Quentin, the prefect of Corsica, welcoming this 100% private initiative.
La Corsica Linea, which employs 1,500 employees under the French flag, shares with La Méridionale the maritime public service delegation (DSP) to connect the five Corsican ports to Marseille.
In France, the shipowner CMA CGM has several LNG-powered container ships, while the Italian cruise operator Costa Croisières was the first to offer an LNG-powered ship in 2019.
© 2023 AFP
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