By
Alex Smith |
Viking Line is offering passengers on its Turku-Åland-Stockholm route with the option of purchasing renewable biofuel.
European biogas, produced from waste materials, is being delivered by Nordic energy company Gasum to Viking Glory and Viking Grace. Passengers can purchase this in an amount proportional to the amount of fuel used for their journey, based on average fuel use per passengers. According to Viking Line, a purchase of less than five euros will reduce a passenger’s emissions by up to 90 per cent.
"This really is an important milestone in our more than 40-year journey towards sustainability,” said Dani Lindberg, sustainability manager at Viking Line. We are the first shipping company on the Baltic Sea to offer passengers the option of reducing their carbon footprint by replacing LNG with renewable biofuel. Many of our passengers have asked for such an option, and we are really pleased that we can now engage them even more in our work for the environment and the Baltic Sea.”
Waste from sources such as food and agriculture is used as raw materials in biogas production. Viking Line is issued a sustainability certificate for every biogas delivery, which specifics where and how the gas is produced, which affects the final amount of emissions. Viking Line purchases the biogas with the additional funds provided by passengers, and the gas is then mixed with LNG.
“The supply of biogas is still limited compared to demand,” said Lindberg. “We will now work in partnership with Gasum and our environmentally aware customers to increase the use of biogas.”
Both Viking Glory and Viking Grace normally use LNG fuel, but have been designed to utilise biogas and synthetic fuels produced from renewable energy. Biogas has already been tested as a fuel on Viking Grace.
"Through our project work and partnership for the sustainable maritime transport of the future, we have gained a great deal of knowledge and information to support our own sustainability work,” said Jan Hanses, president and CEO of Viking Line. “Carbon-neutral maritime transport still lies in the future, but it is no longer a utopian dream. Our goal at Viking Line is to be among the first when the time comes.”