Wasaline eyes further emission reductions with ‘largest battery retrofit’ on hybrid ferry

Finnish shipping company Wasaline has decided to expand the onboard battery capacity of its dual-fuel hybrid ferry Aurora Botnia and further reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The company will expand Aurora Botnia’s battery capacity by an additional 10.4 MWh in autumn 2025 with batteries from AYK Energy.

The lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries will be in operation in January 2026 and are projected to reduce the GHG emissions by 23%, according to Wasaline.

Wasaline’s Aurora Botnia was built in 2021 at Rauma Marine Constructions with an aim to enable the company to achieve fully carbon-neutral operations by 2030.

The hybrid vessel is equipped with dual-fuel engines capable of running on LNG and biogas and 2.2 MWh batteries, and it uses electric-powered Azimuth thrusters. The new battery upgrade is expected to further cut fossil energy use by approximately 10,000 MWh annually.

Peter Ståhlberg, Managing Director of Wasaline, commented: “We are continuously working to establish the Vaasa–Umeå route as a green shipping corridor. There’s growing demand for environmentally friendly transport, and intermodal cargo transportation from Europe is increasing yearly.

“This means the entire transport chain can be carbon-neutral today. Expanding our battery capacity is a major step that allows us to make our vessel even more sustainable and allocate more capacity to batteries and biogas. Our collaboration with Finland’s and the region’s energy clusters makes innovative solutions like this possible and we are proud to be a forerunner in the industry.”

Chris Kruger, Founder and President at AYK Energy, added that the project represents the largest battery retrofit on a vessel to date.