Sweden’s Sirius Shipping has partnered with Finland’s state-owned energy company Gasum to build a new Bio-LNG (liquefied natural gas) bunkering vessel.
The new state-of-the-art vessel, to be named Celsius, will enable Gasum to fulfil its strategic ambition to increase LNG and bio-LNG availability in the Northwestern European maritime market.
Gasum has chartered a new LNG and bio-LNG bunker vessel that will serve Gasum’s customers starting 2027. The vessel will be owned by a Joint Venture between Gasum and Swedish shipping company Sirius Shipping. The vessel will be built by RMK Marine yard in Istanbul Turkey.
Sirius Shipping and Gasum have a long history together, as Gasum has been the charterer of the bunker vessel Coralius since 2017 and Sirius Shipping has been managing Gasum’s bunkering vessel Seagas since 2012.
The investment is part of Gasum’s strategy to secure the availability of LNG and bio-LNG to its customers in the Northwestern European area as demand increases in the coming years. The number of LNG-powered dual fuel vessels calling at ports in Northwestern Europe is growing significantly.
“Ship owners are now seeing that switching to LNG and bio-LNG is one of the best ways of reducing emissions in maritime logistics already today, instead of waiting for other technologies that have not yet reached maturity or the required scale or infrastructure. This state-of-the-art bunker vessel is an important investment in our ability to continue to deliver the quality service our customers expect from us now and in the future”, says Gasum CEO Mika Wiljanen.
The vessel will further be equipped with a high-performance Gas Combustion Unit (GCU) capable of performing customer vessel cool-down operations at record speeds.
As regulation tightens, Gasum’s evolving services enable its customers to reduce emissions in a cost-effective way. In 2024 Gasum launched the maritime pooling service to provide FuelEU Maritime regulation compliance as a service to companies operating vessels on traditional fuels.
Gasum is able provide LNG and bio-LNG bunkering services to all shipping companies that have vessels running on LNG. LNG and bio-LNG are fully interchangeable, and they can be mixed at any ratio.