Germany-headed biogas producer and technology provider EnviTec Biogas AG has announced that it has signed a bioLNG offtake agreement with compatriot RoPax ferry operator TT-Line GmbH & Co. KG (TT-Line).
Trial bunkering successful, contract signed: with the bunkering of 40 tonnes of bioLNG from EnviTec Biogas AG for TT-Line’s Peter Pan in Travemünde, a joint step toward clean logistics with renewable biogas has been taken.
We are delighted to be able to supply TT-Line’s Ro-Pax ferries, a combination of passenger and vehicle ships, with our renewable fuel bioLNG, said Markus Pille, Managing Director of EnviTec Energy GmbH & Co. KG.
Compliant with FuelEU Maritime Regulation
Since the entry into force of the EU Regulation on the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels in maritime transport – FuelEU Maritime Regulation – shipping companies such as TT-Line are required to comply with binding limits for the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of the energy used on board.
The FuelEU Maritime Regulation applies to all ships in the EU with a gross tonnage of more than 5,000 in commercial passenger or freight transport, regardless of the flag they fly.
While the International Maritime Organization (IMO) only recently postponed its decision on a global climate regime for shipping, the so-called “Net Zero Framework,” by one year, the FuelEU Maritime will continue to apply until further notice.
The IMO framework would have introduced the first global carbon dioxide (CO2) price for an industrial sector and set the roadmap for the industry’s climate neutrality by 2050.
Market-leading ferry operator
TT-Line provides services across the Baltic Sea connecting the Port of Travemünde and Port of Rostock in Germany with the Port of Świnoujście in Poland and Port of Klaipėda in Lithuania with the southern Swedish transport hubs of the Port of Trelleborg – Sweden’s largest ferry port – and, since April 2023, the Port of Karlshamn.
On an annual basis, TT-Line ships approximately 1 million passengers, 250,000 cars, and 500,000 freight units, making it the market leader in ferry traffic to southern Sweden.
Our Peter Pan, together with her sister ship Nils Holgersson, is the largest LNG-powered Ro-Pax ferry in the world. These ferries represent far more to us than merely meeting legal requirements; we are preparing ourselves and our fleet as well as possible for a sustainable future. We have already carried out extensive bioLNG bunkerings by bunker barge this year and are now pleased to have found, in EnviTec Biogas, a German partner for particularly flexible bunkering by truck, said Torben Nikolay, CFO of TT-Line.
The bioLNG produced by EnviTec Biogas reduces emissions by up to 100 percent compared to marine diesel and thus provides shipping companies with a better starting point with regard to the targets for reducing GHG emissions under the FuelEU Maritime Regulation.
EnviTec Biogas produces its bioLNG from organic biomass waste such as slurry, dried poultry manure, food waste, or agricultural residues produced at Germany’s largest integrated bioLNG plant, the company’s own BioEnergie Park Güstrow.
With this plant, the manufacturer and operator of biogas and gas upgrading plants has also been acting as an independent supplier of carbon-neutral fuel on the market since 2023.
