Viking Line has begun running two of its Ro-Ro vessels on bio-LNG as part of Gasum’s FuelEU Maritime compliance pooling scheme. This will enable the Finnish shipping company to operate in a compliance surplus, generating compliance credits on its Turku-Stockholm route.
The biofuel use enables Viking Line to raise the share of bio-LNG in its fuel mix to 50% on this route, cutting greenhouse gas output on the busy Baltic Sea corridor and providing predictable volumes of compliance for Gasum’s pool. Gasum manages the service, allowing shipping companies reliant on conventional fuels to purchase verified compliance credits. DNV oversees validation of fuel consumption and emissions data before submitting verified balances to the EU.
‘Demand for FEUM pooling is becoming so high that it would not be possible for Gasum to generate the needed compliance using just its own bunkering vessels anymore,’ said Jacob Granqvist, Vice President Maritime at Gasum. ‘That is why it is central to the scale and stability of our service that we are able to collaborate with a trusted partner such as Viking Line to expand the service to a larger group of shipowners. It’s great to deepen our long relationship with Viking Line through this collaboration even further.’
Jan Hanses, CEO of Viking Line, commented: ‘We at Viking Line aim to be among the frontrunners as Finnish maritime shows the world how to transition to a fossil-free future. We have been offering our passenger and cargo customers the chance to buy biogas for their leg between Turku and Stockholm for two years now. This new move enables us to increase our bio-LNG use to 50 percent, allowing for substantial emission cuts on the route. We are more than happy to work with Gasum to help the whole European maritime industry reduce emissions by using more biofuel.’
For Viking Line, the shift is expected to reduce emissions by 17,000 tonnes of CO2e this year, with annual biofuel consumption set to reach 3,800 tonnes, a sixfold increase from the approximately 600 tonnes used in 2024.
FuelEU Maritime requires vessels calling at EU ports to reduce the well-to-wake greenhouse gas intensity of the energy they use by 2% this year, with the threshold rising progressively to 80% by 2050. Pooling offers shipowners a way to bridge the gap while low-carbon fuel supply scales up, effectively creating a market for over-compliance that early adopters are positioned to capture.
The agreement builds on a letter of intent signed in late 2024 and marks the latest stage in a longstanding partnership between the two companies. Viking Line first offered passengers the option to buy biogas for their journey in 2023 and has since scaled up its use substantially. The collaboration also supports the development of green corridors in the Baltic, where Viking Line is exploring projects including a fully electric ferry on the Helsinki–Tallinn route in the 2030s.
Gasum, meanwhile, is expanding its supply chain for bio-LNG. Its 2017-built bunkering vessel Coralius now operates entirely on bio-LNG, and a new vessel, Celsius, is scheduled to enter service in 2027 with improved fuel efficiency, insulation and cargo capacity.
