Gasum powers first carbon-neutral Baltic Sea shipping route

A daily ferry service between Finland and Sweden has become the first completely carbon-neutral shipping route on the Baltic Sea, after switching to run solely on liquefied biogas (bio-LNG) supplied by Nordic energy company Gasum.
The move sees Finnish shipping firm Wasaline’s Aurora Botnia operate exclusively on Gasum’s fully renewable fuel on its route between Vaasa in Finland and Umeå in Sweden.
The transition is enabled by Wasaline’s participation in a FuelEU Maritime compliance arrangement with Stena Line, one of Europe’s largest ferry operators with 40 vessels and 20 routes across Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Peter Ståhlberg, Managing Director of Wasaline, said the company had “constantly worked to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprint” and viewed “the EU regulation as an opportunity for our Finland–Sweden traffic”.
He added that “with this unique collaboration with Stena Line and Gasum, Wasaline can achieve carbon neutrality already now as an industry forerunner. This also means all cargo and passengers travelling with Wasaline are carbon neutral at no additional cost.”
Jacob Granqvist, Vice President, Maritime at Gasum, said the company was “delighted that Wasaline has chosen Gasum to supply biogas for the daily operations of Aurora Botnia” and “proud to facilitate this collaboration with Stena Line”.
He continued: “Renewable biogas is one of the concrete solutions already available for cutting emissions in maritime transport. Our goal is to continuously increase biogas availability for our customers in the years ahead.”
Gasum’s waste-based bio-LNG is produced from materials such as food waste, sewage sludge, manure and other industrial and agricultural by-products. Its life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions are, on average, 90% lower than fossil fuels.
With EU regulations tightening and customer demand rising, Gasum plans to expand bio-LNG supply in the maritime sector through increased in-house production and new long-term partnerships with certified producers across Europe.
The company can provide bio-LNG bunkering services to any LNG-powered vessel, as LNG and bio-LNG are fully interchangeable and can be blended in any ratio.
Gasum also offers a FuelEU Maritime pooling service, enabling shipowners to purchase regulatory compliance by dedicating vessels to run entirely on bio-LNG, generating credits for other ships in the pool.