The TOTE Maritime LNG-powered newbuild MV Isla Bella arrived at its new homeport in Jacksonville, Florida late Monday night time following a roughly two week journey from San Diego the place the vessel was constructed.

On its journey, the Isla Bella reached speeds of greater than 24 knots and handed by means of the Panama Canal.

The containership, the world’s first to be powered by clear burning liquified pure gasoline, was to switch the ill-fated El Faro upon its scheduled arrival this quarter.

The Isla Bella is the primary of two ships in TOTE Maritime’s Marlin-class. The 3,100 TEU ships have been constructed by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego and designed by DSEC, a subsidiary of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea. They are primarily based on confirmed containership-design requirements and embrace DSME’s patented LNG fuel-gas system and a single MAN ME-GI engine will primarily function on LNG, making the vessels among the many most environmentally pleasant containerships on this planet.

Isla Bella is anticipated to start working on the Jones Act Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico commerce route – the identical because the El Faro – beneath a constitution settlement with the Tote Maritime subsidiary beforehand often known as Sea Star Line LLC. Sea Star Line has since been rebranded to TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico.

The second Marlin-class vessel, Perla Del Caribe, is to enter service on the identical route in Q1 2016.

As a part of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the El Faro sinking, TOTE instructed investigators that the El Faro was scheduled to be faraway from its route and redeployed to the U.S. West Coast the place it might function between Washington State and Alaska instead of TOTE Maritime’s Orca-class vessels as the 2 ships – MV North Star and MV Midnight Sun – start their conversion to LNG gas.

In order to organize for this operational change, TOTE started in August to make modifications to the El Faro whereas underway. Work on these modifications was carried out over many voyages, together with throughout the ultimate ill-fated voyage, the NTSB has mentioned.

The wreckage of the SS El Faro was confirmed by the NTSB on Monday, situated close to its final recognized place northeast of Crooked Island, Bahamas at a depth of greater than 15,000 ft. The ship had been lacking because it sailed into the trail of Hurricane Joaquin on October 1. All 33 crew members have been misplaced within the incident. 

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