The shipping company claims it submitted the "most sustainable and innovative" bid for the tender, with an investment of 135 million euros in the construction of two zero-emission fast ferries with a capacity for 800 passengers, as well as the electrification of ports and the battery charging system.

TARIFA / Baleària announced on Monday that it has been selected as the winning shipping company for the operation of the intercontinental maritime route between TARIFA.  in Tangier City  After the opening of the economic bids and the evaluation of the technical aspects last Friday, although the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras   de momento no lo ha hecho oficial.

The shipping company claims to have submitted the 'most sustainable and innovative' bid in the tender, with an investment of 135 million euros for the construction of two fast ferries electric with zero emissions and a capacity for 800 passengers, the electrification of the ports and the battery charging system. The construction of these two electric catamarans will take place at Armon Shipyards in Gijón and will last two and a half years.

The president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, believes that 'Baleària has presented the most sustainable and technologically advanced project of the three that entered the tender,' and he states that it is good news for Spain and Morocco, as well as for the shipping company, which, after nearly 20 years of striving to operate and modernize this route, has succeeded in winning with a powerful solution and economic bid 

The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) reported on Friday the numerical results of the technical and operational bids for the awarding of berth number 3 at the Port of Tarifa, and disclosed the economic bids and traffic commitments for the entire concession period, which have a mathematical and automatic scoring system, allowing the winning calculation to be made

Of the three sections into which the tender is divided, Baleària has won the two based on objective criteria (the technical and the economic), and in the section based on subjective criteria (operation), the shipping company received a slightly lower score than the other two competing companies. The economic bid submitted is also the most advantageous for the APBA

Adolfo Utor points out that 'pending official confirmation, we can conclude that Baleària has been the clear winner of the tender: a Spanish shipping company with two electric ships built in Spain.' Utor also states that 'the commercial and technological strength demonstrated by Baleària will generate greater wealth for the region and will promote an increase in both economic and cultural activity in Andalusia as well as in Tangier

Sources from the sector gathered by Infopuertos indicate that Baleària's proposal seems to be based on unrealistic data, which could be considered a reckless proposal. Baleària has tried to make a bold statement by presenting an unachievable economic offer, aiming to capture nearly 90% of the line's traffic, without considering that there will be another operator from the Moroccan side, which suggests that, in the best case, the Spanish share should be around 60%. If this is the case, it would be difficult for Baleària to reach the revenue figures that would allow them to cover, roughly, the 70 million euros in activity fees they have proposed, along with the expected annual increase of about 4%, compared to the other two offers, which did not exceed the 50 million euro mark

The shipping companies FRS-DFDS and Sercomisa (Tarifa Lines) are also competing for the management of the route. The duration of the concession will be determined based on the type of vessels offered by the shipping company. It will range from 3 years and 3 months if there are no changes to the fleet; 7 years if the vessels are re-engined; or up to 15 years if both vessels offered are newly built

The tender prioritizes technical and environmental criteria over economic ones, in line with the APBA's Green Strategy. Furthermore, the ferries will have to adapt to the energy efficiency measures required to use the system Onshore Power Supply (OPS), la electrical connection to the grid During the ships' stay in port, with the aim of eliminating polluting emissions, noise, and vibrations. The APBA is working on the development of this technology to provide electrical connection to ships in the Port of Tarifa starting in 2025. For this, it has a budget of 1.7 million euros, funded by European funds from the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (MRR) NextGenerationEU, aimed at sustainability and energy efficiency improvements

Source of the article: europasur