In January of 2009 Baleària incorporated the latest generation ferry to its fleet Martín i Soler, which marked the beginning of a new concept in maritime transport, + ferries: more eco-efficient vessels and with a speed of 23 knots, higher than ferries conventional, which also offered better services and amenities for customers.
From mere means of transport, the ship became part of the travel experience. Thus, the Martín i Soler took over as the flagship of Baleària al fast ferry Federico García Lorca. A decade later, the witness passes to Hypatia of Alexandria, the first ferry that sails propelled by natural gas in the Mediterranean, destined to start a new stage with LNG as a strategic axis.
With a length of 165 meters and a sleeve of 25, the Martín i Soler It was the first of a series of four ferries that were built in the Barreras de Vigo shipyards and in which Baleària 350 invested millions of euros, of which 89 corresponded to this vessel. A fleet plan that was carried out between 2009-2010 and which was also part of the Passió per Formentera, Alhucemas (current Bahama Mama) Y Abel Matutes.
He started sailing linking Barcelona with Eivissa and Maó, and for a few months it has been the ship that covers the first Baleària route between the Canary Islands and the peninsula, operated together with Fred.Olsen Express. However, many of the more 800.000 nautical miles that have sailed in this decade, some 37 full laps to the Earth, have been on the Barcelona-Alcúdia-Ciutadella route.
If the comfort, the interior design and some innovative services on board were one of the pillars of the start-up of the ferries +, with the Martín i Soler at the head, the other was the navigation speed superior to the conventional ferries of the moment , thanks to two four-stroke diesel engines, with a maximum power of 9.000 KW each, and with the advantage that it consumed less fuel while CO2 emissions were reduced.
In addition, the energy efficiency of the ship was improving over the years, being a pioneer ferry in the fleet to incorporate new features that have been extended later in other Baleària ships: in 2013 antifouling silicone was applied to the live work, which allows navigate with less friction and therefore emit less CO2 into the atmosphere, while in 2015 the EMMA monitoring system was installed, which allows to control the parameters of the ship in real time in order to adjust them and navigate more efficiently. The Martín i Soler is expected to be one of the six vessels that the shipping company will remotely, between 2019-2020, so they can navigate with natural gas, a cleaner energy.
