Utor has confirmed that safety, preventive maintenance of equipment and commercial efficiency are the three axes of use of this control tower, will be the guarantee of success of our company

Baleària is developing a control tower to monitor in real time its entire fleet anywhere in the world, using Big Data technology. This has been announced by the president of the shipping company based in Denia, Alicante, Adolfo Utor, in the framework of Fitur 2020, stressing that the project, the main objective of the company in the field of innovation and sustainability, is a further step in its digital transformation that will contribute to its eco-efficiency, following the incorporation of smart ships into liquefied natural gas.

Utor has presented in Fitur the navigation digitization plan that will allow you to improve the efficiency of internal processes and the optimization of resources. The company is working especially with Big Data and decision-making through real-time data, with the aim of becoming a medium-term data driven company. The first project in this regard is the new company management system, which will be launched shortly, automating many of the current processes.

The future control tower will make it possible to manage its fleet operations more agile and efficient, as well as the real-time control of the emission of polluting gases. In particular, Baleària is part of the European Green and Connected Ports project, which will install sensors and measuring equipment on ships.

This year, the company will incorporate the world's first fast ferry powered by dual natural gas engines. One year after becoming the first shipping company in the Mediterranean to incorporate a smart ship to natural gas, Baleària already has four of these vessels and by 2020 it will add up four more, being a pioneer in the use of cleaner fuel that totally eliminates the emissions of sulphur and particles harmful to health and substantially reduces those of Nox and CO2. This also allows it to comply with IMO regulations that since 1 January require the use of marine fuels with a maximum of 0.5% sulphur. This new fuel reduces NOx by 85% and C02 by 30%, being key to improving air quality (with direct effects on people's health) and combating climate change. The ship's fleet strategy provides for eight vessels with dual gas / fuel engines this year, and another in 2021.

It is estimated that when the nine vessels are operating they will reduce 570 tonnes of sulphur annually, 6,535 tonnes of Nox and 92,147 tonnes of C02 (equivalent to annual emissions of 60,000 cars or to plant 180,000 trees). The investment of Baleària in this new generation of ships is 380 million euros and includes three new constructions: the Hypatia ferries of Alexandria and Marie Curie that began to sail in 2019, and the Eleanor Roosevelt, currently under construction, and the re-motorization of six vessels - two in 2019, three in 2020 and one in 2021 - which have been partially subsidized through the European Commission's EFC programme.