Gasum will bunker Hapag-Lloyd’s container vessels with a total amount of 20,000 mt of bio-LNG during 2025–2026.

Energy company Gasum is collaborating with Hapag-Lloyd to supply their container vessels with liquefied biomethane during a two-year tender period. Earlier this year, Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world’s leading container shipping companies, won the first tender by the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance) for ocean shipping based on waste-based bio-LNG that achieves at least a 90 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

ZEMBA is a first-of-its-kind buyers’ group within the maritime sector with the mission to accelerate commercial deployment of zero-emission (ZE) shipping solutions. ZEMBA is an initiative of Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) and facilitated by the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program.

Gasum is supplying Hapag-Lloyd with the needed amount of bio-LNG to fulfill the requirements of the ZEMBA tender. The bio-LNG will be used on a route between Rotterdam and Singapore during 2025–2026.

“This agreement demonstrates that the green transition in the maritime transport sector is picking up speed. Gasum is proud to enable this transition by supplying shipping companies with bio-LNG in the Northern European region. We need all-hands-on-deck to drive the effort, and using bio-LNG to fuel maritime transports is an effective way to reduce emissions already today, rather than in a distant future”, says Jacob Granqvist, VP, Maritime, Gasum.

“We are confident in our partnership with Gasum to supply waste-based bio-LNG in line with the strict sustainability requirements of ZEMBA and the Renewable Energy Directive (REDII). This agreement is a stepping-stone towards our target to be net-zero carbon by 2045”, says Jan Christensen, Senior Director of Fuel Purchasing at Hapag-Lloyd.

Fuelling transports with waste

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, including as a road and maritime transport fuel and as energy for industry.

Gasum’s biomethane is produced from waste feedstocks such as biowaste, sewage sludge, manure and other industrial and agricultural side streams. The residual solids and liquids created in the biogas production process are further processed and used as, for example, fertilizers in agriculture or raw material in industrial processes.

Gasum is dedicated to procuring more renewable gas to satisfy the increasing demand for sustainable energy. Gasum produces biogas in its own 17 biogas plants in Finland and Sweden and has additionally established long-term partnerships with trusted and certified biogas producers throughout Europe.

Gasum’s goal is to offer 7 TWh of renewable gas to its customers yearly by 2027, including biomethane and e-methane. Achieving this goal would mean a combined carbon dioxide reduction of 1.8 million tons per year for Gasum’s customers.

Gasum is able provide bio-LNG bunkering services to all shipping companies that have vessels running on liquefied natural gas, as LNG and bio-LNG are fully interchangeable. They can also be mixed at any ratio.