10 September 2014

Super-Fast Baleares in Barcelona, 9 August 2014

Super-Fast Baleares

IMO 9399325
Built 2010, Navantia S.A. Astilleros San Fernando Puerto Real, Spain
Tonnage 30 998 GT
Length 209,43 m
Width 26,50 m
Draught 7,10 m
12 passengers
12 berths
3 500 lanemeters
4 MAN diesels, combined 43 600 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Maximum speed 26 knots

As you know, I don't normally feature cargo ships in this blog, but I'm making an exception here for Trasmediterránea's Super-Fast Baleares.

The Super-Fast Baleares is Trasmediterránea's last newbuilt ship to date. She is the second of two roro cargo ships ordered by Acciona Trasmediterránea from the Navantia shipyard in Puerto Real in 2006. Initially Trasmediterránea had placed an order for two 160-metre ferries from Hijos de J. Barreas in Vigo, but the shipyard soon changed to Navantia and the size of the ships grew. Originally the order included options for two sister ships; a third ship was in fact ordered but cancelled later on.

The service speeds of the new ships had been optimized for the Spain-Canaries run, and on delivery the first ship, José-María Entrecanales, was placed on the long route from Barcelona to Gran Canaria via various ports in Spain and Morocco. After privatization, Trasmediterránea had named their cargo ships with a Super-Fast prefix (who this had not led to a legal conflict with Superfast Ferries I do not know); an exception was made with the José-María Entrecanales, which was named after the chairman of Acciona.

The second ship recieved the more traditional name Super-Fast Baleares, but despite the name placed on the Cadiz to Gran Canaria run. Sometime before 2014 she has been moved to services from Palma de Mallorca to Barcelona and Valencia. It is also possible that she has spent some time between her delivery and today laid up. An interesting detail is that today she carries no company names or logos on her hull.

The photographs below show the Super-Fast Baleares departing from Barcelona on the evening of 9 August 2014. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Alas, the lighting was less than ideal here. Notice three ships from the recent blog entires in the background: Tenacia (left), Fortuny (behind the S-F Baleares' funnel) and Martín i Soler.
The tug Salvador Dali in the foreground.
No idea what's up with the soot in the funnel. It looks like there might have been a fire onboard, but if so why is there soor only on one side of the funnel?
And indeed, notice the fact that while the ship carries Trasmediterránea's livery, there are no company markings on the side.

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