Swedish tanker owner Furetank has stepped up its decarbonisation drive, securing large-scale supplies of liquefied biomethane (LBM) to run its fleet and setting up a new company to trade emission reductions under the EU’s FuelEU Maritime regulation.
The Gothenburg-based operator will power all of its dual-fuel Vinga series vessels trading in the EU on renewable gas throughout 2025, following an agreement with Cargill, Titan Clean Fuels and BRS Shipbrokers. Agricultural giant Cargill will produce the gas from waste, Titan will liquefy and deliver it, and bunkering is already underway.
“What makes this agreement stand out is its scale,” said Willem Olde Kalter, responsible for Biogas and FuelEU at Cargill. “The FuelEU legislation is set to drive meaningful change, and we are only seeing the beginning of LBM in shipping as one of the most accessible compliance solutions.”
The move allows Furetank to go further than compliance. By operating on renewable fuels, its vessels generate surplus emission reductions that can be traded within the EU system. To manage this, the company has established a new subsidiary, CO2mpliance, which will handle both its own credits and those of other shipping companies.
Viktoria Höglund, CEO of CO2mpliance, said the venture will provide a service similar to Furetank’s in-house chartering desk, which already acts for other owners. “We have the entire chain of expertise required to conduct the transactions and administration, in line with the new regulation and the specific conditions of shipping,” she said.
The FuelEU Maritime rules, in force since January, require EU-trading vessels to gradually cut greenhouse gas emissions — starting with a 2% reduction from 2025 and reaching an 80% cut by 2050. Owners who outperform the targets can sell excess reductions, while those falling short face penalties.
For Furetank, which has been investing in LNG propulsion since 2015, the shift to biomethane required no technical changes. The company argues that biogas provides an immediate, scalable way to slash emissions, with the purchased volumes delivering a 150–200% well-to-wake reduction thanks to the way methane production avoids and captures emissions.
“This was our target when we converted our first vessel to gas propulsion in 2015,” said Höglund, who is also Furetank’s sustainability strategist. “It is remarkable that we have finally reached the point we have worked for and talked about for so long.”
The company said it sees the combination of renewable fuel supply and a structured carbon trading mechanism as a chance to stay ahead of regulation — a strategy Furetank has followed since ordering double-hulled tankers years before they became mandatory.
