By
Laura Hyde |
Wasaline has become the first carbon neutral shipping company operating in the Baltic Sea. It has signed a biogas contract with Gasum and a Fuel European Union Maritime pooling agreement with Stena Line, enabling it to use only biofuels in the future.
“Renewable biogas is one of the already available concrete solutions for reducing emissions in maritime transport,” said Jacob Granqvist, vice president of maritime at Gasum. “Our goal is to continuously increase biogas availability to our customers in the years ahead.”
The ferry operator had originally set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, but it has achieved this goal five years early, thanks to cooperation with Stena Line and Gasum in the daily operation of Aurora Botnia on the route from Vaasa, Finland, to Umeå in Sweden – the first international green shipping corridor in operation. Wasaline began using biogas on Aurora Botnia in 2023 when it trialled usage one day per week.
The Wasaline ferry is equipped with batteries and will be equipped with additional capacity by energy company AYK, Foreship and Wärtsilä in January 2026. This means Aurora Botnia will have 12.6-megawatt-hour battery capacity, the largest battery capacity on a ro-pax ferry.
“We have constantly worked with the possibilities to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprint, and we have seen the coming [EU Emission Trading system] rules as an opportunity for our traffic between Finland and Sweden,” said Peter Ståhlberg, managing director of Wasaline. “With this unique collaboration with Stena Line and Gasum, Wasaline can achieve carbon neutrality already now as a forerunner for the industry. This also means that all cargo and passengers travelling with Wasaline are sustainable with no additional extra charges for being carbon neutral.”
Niclas Mårtensson CEO of Stena Line, said: “By integrating Aurora Botnia into Stena Line’s FuelEU Maritime pool, we gain access to biogas previously unavailable for Stena Line which enables further emission reductions for the entire pool, lowers fuel costs and strengthens our strategic position as biofuels become increasingly scarce under more stringent regulations.”