Stainless steel major Outokumpu is bolstering its cooperation with Finnish shipping company Langh Ship to reduce carbon emissions from its shortsea liner operations.

Namely, Lang Ship’s new multipurpose ship Lovisa has started its liner service for Outokumpu between Finland and the Netherlands.

Under the agreement, Lovisa will carry raw materials from Terneuzen in the Netherlands to Tornio in Finland, and semi-finished and finished steel products from Tornio back to Terneuzen. The new and more versatile vessels can take more tonnages out from Outokumpu’s road traffic to sea and further reduce the company’s carbon footprint from transport. As Tornio and the sea channel leading to it is covered by ice half of the year, Lovisa has been built for ice class 1A to endure the northern winter conditions.

Outokumpu aims to have six vessels in use from Langh Ship during the year with a target to reduce its annual carbon emissions from shortsea shipping by at least 25% by the end of 2024.

The move aligns with tightening environmental regulations from both the EU and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

“Outokumpu is committed to ambitious science-based climate targets in line with the 1.5°C ambition. We aim to decrease direct and indirect emissions as well as emissions from the supply chain by 42% per tonne of stainless steel we produce by 2030 compared to the 2016 baseline. At EU level, maritime transport represents 3 to 4 per cent of the EU’s total CO2 emissions, so all solutions are heavily needed in this sector. The route between Tornio and Terneuzen is of utmost importance to us in transporting coils to the European market and in bringing recycled steel to our melt shop in Tornio. We are pleased to start utilizing three new vessels by Langh Ship and in addition, develop the three old ones by installing carbon capture units from Langh Tech to further support emission reduction goals,” says Jyrki Sandelin, Category Manager for transports at Outokumpu.

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“We are proud to have added a newbuilding to Langh Ship’s fleet. It has been a pleasure to work together with Outokumpu to plan the newbuilding series to be energy-efficient and with minimal emissions, and we are looking forward to having the two sister-vessel newbuildings in Outokumpu’s charter soon as well,” says Laura Langh-Lagerlöf, Managing Director, Langh Ship.

Lovisa is equipped with a dual-fuel main engine with an output of 4,500 kW. As the initial fuel it will use liquefied natural gas (LNG), which can be directly replaced by liquefied biogas (LBG). Furthermore, the vessel is prepared for the installation of onshore power, which would make it emission-free during port calls.

Outokumpu is the largest producer of stainless steel in Europe and the second largest producer in the Americas.

This article was first published on our sister website Bulk Materials International