Wasaline is making a significant leap toward sustainable maritime transport by expanding the onboard battery capacity of ro-pax ‘Aurora Botnia’ with an additional 10.4 MWh, to be delivered in autumn 2025.
The battery will be supplied by marine battery specialist AYK Energy, and the batteries will be in operation in January 2026. The batteries are of the LFP (lithium iron phosphate) type, known for their safety and long lifespan.
This investment is projected to reduce GHG emissions by 23%. Since operations began in January 2013 with the Wasa Express, emissions are reduced by 77% per trip, which meets the EU’s climate goal of a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
From the initial planning of Wasalines’ Aurora Botnia, the company set the target of achieving fully carbon-neutral operations by 2030. This hybrid vessel is a equipped with dual-fuel engines and 2.2 MWh batteries, and it uses electrically-powered Azimuth thrusters. The new battery upgrade is expected to further cut fossil energy use by approximately 10,000 MWh annually. The current battery capacity of Aurora Botnia is 2.2 MWh.
Built at Rauma Marine Constructions, the hybrid ro-pax Ferry Aurora Botnia entered service in August 2021. The ferry uses LNG, biogas and batteries for the propulsion.
Peter Ståhlberg, MD Wasaline, said: “We are continuously working to establish the Vaasa–Umeå route as a green shipping corridor. There’s growing demand for environmentally friendly transport, and intermodal cargo transportation from Europe is increasing yearly. This means the entire transport chain can be carbon-neutral today. Expanding our battery capacity is a major step that allows us to make our vessel even more sustainable and allocate more capacity to batteries and biogas. Our collaboration with Finland’s and the region’s energy clusters makes innovative solutions like this possible and we are proud to be a forerunner in the industry.”
Chris Kruger, Founder and President, AYK Energy, added: “This is the largest battery retrofit on a vessel to date, and we are extremely proud to be partnering with Wasaline as the provider of this advanced battery solution. Being recognized once again as a reliable and cost-effective supplier is extremely gratifying. This project exemplifies AYK’s vision of bringing high quality, safe and cost-effective solutions to address our customers’ requirements for environmentally friendly transport. The transition to electric and hybrid vessels is accelerating, and the AYK/Wasaline partnership is an excellent example of how working together strategically can make the change happen.”
Image: Batteries onboard ‘Aurora Botnica’ (source: Wasaline)
