Viking Line comes on board Gasum’s FuelEU Maritime pooling service

Nordic energy company Gasum has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Finnish shipping company Viking Line on joining Gasum’s FuelEU Maritime pooling service.

Viking Line uses LNG-powered vessels to transport passengers and cargo between Finland and Sweden. The shipping company plans to offer over-compliance to the pool by running its daily route on Gasum’s renewable waste and manure based bio-LNG, which offers more than a 90% emissions reduction when compared to conventional fossil fuels such as MGO.

“We are thrilled at the opportunity to have a pioneering Nordic shipping company like Viking Line join our FuelEU maritime pooling service. With Viking Line on board Gasum will have an unmatched source of over-compliance in the pool. This will enable us to offer our customers the easiest and most cost-effective way to reach compliance for vessels running on conventional fuels,” Jacob Granqvist, Gasum’s Vice President, Maritime, commented.

“For us at Viking Line, taking every possible step towards more sustainable maritime transport is a top priority. Increased use of bio-LNG as a maritime fuel is one big step. That is why joining Gasum’s FuelEU Maritime pooling service is such an attractive option for us. If we can enable reducing emissions in the maritime sector and further our work towards Green Maritime Corridors with such an easy move, there is really no question about it,” Jan Hanses, CEO of Viking Line, pointed out.

To remind, Viking Line, together with Scandic Trans and Orkla Suomi, launched two months ago a biofuel-powered scheduled freight service, opening the Baltic Sea’s first green freight corridor. As a result, transport emissions along the green freight corridor that stretches from Fågelmara, Sweden to Turku, Finland, are 90% lower than previously.

Reducing maritime emissions by 80% by 2050

Viking Line had joined Finnish shipping company Wasaline as Gasum’s FuelEU Maritime pooling service’s over-compliance generator.

Gasum will manage the pools, supply the ultra-low emission bio-LNG and offer over-compliance to shipping companies with conventional fuel vessels.

As explained, pooling is the easiest and most reliable way for shipping companies to save on compliance costs and promote the production of low-emission fuels at the same time.

FuelEU Maritime is a European Union regulation established to increase the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels and limit greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Starting 2025, vessel owners need to reduce the carbon intensity of purchased fuel initially by two percent with the required reduction growing incrementally to as much as 80% by 2050.

To make compliance easier for shipping companies, FuelEU Maritime permits the voluntary pooling of emission reductions between vessels. This means that vessels that are over-compliant can compensate emissions on behalf of under-compliant vessels, in other words, provide compliance as a service.

Liquefied biomethane, bio-LNG, is a fully renewable and environmentally friendly fuel with life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions that are, on average, 90% lower when compared with fossil fuel use. Biogas can be used in all the same applications as natural gas. Gasum’s strategic goal is to offer yearly 7 TWh of renewable gas, including biomethane and e-methane, to its customers by 2027.