Meriaura orders two cargo ships at Royal Bodewes

Meriaura, a Finnish shipping company, has ordered two Ecotrader cargo ships from the Dutch shipyard, Royal Bodewes. The vessels will be built in Hoogezand, Netherlands and will be delivered in January and December of 2026 as per the contract.

According to Meriaura, the Ecotraders are designed to be environmentally friendly. These vessels are 105 metres long, and have a 1A ice class rating and a 6750 DWT capacity. They are built to have the lowest possible emission levels. Similar to the EcoCoaster ships Eeva VG and Mirva VG, which were delivered in 2016, the Ecotraders can run on biofuel made from recycled raw material produced by Meriaura’s subsidiary VG-Ecofuel. The Ecotrader ships are around 30 per cent larger than the EcoCoaster vessels, which makes them more economically efficient, meets market and customer needs, and lightens the environmental burden of transport.

“This order is a continuum in our series of investments to energy-efficient tonnage that utilizes bio-oil. In the current geopolitical situation, we found it best to order the ships from an established shipyard operating in Western Europe, which is also in line with our ESG strategy. Security of delivery, quality and the yard’s ability to comply with safety and environmental regulations, and our good experience with the previous newbuildings were the most important factors in our decision to choose Royal Bodewes as our shipbuilder again,” says Beppe Rosin, CEO of Meriaura.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set the goal for carbon-neutral shipping by or around 2050. Meriaura’s climate strategy aims for carbon neutrality already in the 2030s.

“The two ships ordered now will start our newbuilding program that targets to carbon neutrality remarkably faster than IMO’s target. Our purpose is to systematically renew our fleet with a series of newbuildings. The use of bio-oil combined with compensation enables us to reach this ambitious goal we have set,” says Meriaura’s founder and chairman Jussi Mälkiä.

“The investment is financed by Oma Säästöpankki Turku, LähiTapiola Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö and Climate Fund. We are grateful that Finnish financiers have come along to support the journey of a local shipping company towards carbon-neutral shipping,” says Rosin.