Finnish ferry operator Wasaline is making maritime history by becoming the first to run a fully carbon-neutral international shipping route on the Baltic Sea, five years ahead of its original 2030 target.
The company has signed a biogas supply deal with Nordic energy group Gasum and a FuelEU Maritime pooling agreement with Swedish ferry giant Stena Line. From now on, the Aurora Botnia hybrid ferry which links Vaasa, Finland, and Umeå, Sweden will operate solely on liquified biogas (bio-LNG).
The Aurora Botnia is already one of the greenest ferries in the world, capable of running on batteries, LNG, and bio-LNG. Earlier this year, Wasaline announced a major battery upgrade to 12.6 MWh, making it the largest capacity ever installed on a RoPax vessel.
This move will also establish the Vaasa–Umeå connection as the first fully operational green shipping corridor under the Nordic Roadmap initiative.
“We saw regulations like the EU Emissions Trading System not as a burden, but as an opportunity,” said Wasaline Managing Director Peter Ståhlberg. “Now, passengers and cargo on our route travel sustainably at no extra cost.”
The milestone follows a 2024 partnership between Wasaline and Gasum to pioneer a large-scale FuelEU Maritime pooling service, helping other operators cut compliance costs as the regulation took effect in January 2025.
