RFI’s IGINIA is the first dual fuel electric ferry active in Italy

By | 2023 Newsletter week 30 | No Comments

IGINIA, the hybrid ferry of RFI Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Gruppo FS Italiane) built by the temporary association of companies between T. Mariotti and San Giorgio del Porto shipyards, has just arrived back in the Strait of Messina where she will resume service in the next few days.

The ship has returned from Genoa, after undergoing hybridisation work and the required warranty checks between March and July this year.

IGINIA was originally delivered to RFI with some equipment prepared for future hybridisation. Equipped with a photovoltaic system, the ship has been green-oriented since its first voyage.

The conversion to hybrid propulsion included the installation on each propulsion unit of an electric motor powered via a converter by battery strings, sized to allow manoeuvres to berth and depart ports in electric mode, without the aid of endothermic propulsion motors.

The battery strings are charged by the same electric motors, used in axis generator mode, during navigation and/or alternatively by the auxiliary generators or in port via the shore connection.

RFI’s ferry IGINIA back in Genoa for installing auxiliary electric propulsion systems

By | 2023 Newsletter week 18 | No Comments
  • IGINIA, delivered last year to Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) for deployment on the Strait of Messina, is back in the port of Genoa at T. Mariotti and San Giorgio del Porto shipyards.
  • The vessel will be equipped with batteries that are recharged via solar panels or via the shore.
  • The hybridisation of the ferry is part of the fleet renewal for rail and ro-ro transport between Sicily and Calabria. The programme includes hybrid adaptation interventions on two other ships and the construction of shore power infrastructure for recharging.
  • The overall investment of EUR 20 million is financed by the EU Next Gen program (in Italy called PNRR, National Recovery and Resilience Plan).
  • To improve the fast passenger transport service on the Strait of Messina, RFI plans also to purchase three new generation ships with LNG / electric propulsion, with the funding of EUR 60 million from the same PNRR program.

New train/ropax ferry IGINIA delivered to RFI for the Strait of Messina

By | 2021 Newsletter week 46 | No Comments

The new ropax ferry ordered by Rete Ferroviaria Italia (RFI) and built in Genoa at San Giorgio del Porto and T. Mariotti shipyards has been successfully delivered in the port of Messina.

The ferry, suitable for the transportation of railway carriages, wagons, passengers, and vehicles, will soon enter service in the Strait of Messina.

The hull of the new unit (equipped with engines, generators, propulsion machinery and systems) was built in Porto Nogaro by Cimar shipyard and then towed to Genoa.

This new ship is LNG-ready.

A tender for the construction of a sister unit was launched last August and is expected to be awarded before the end of this year.