Finnish shipping company Wasaline has selected BLRT Repair Yards, a ship repair and conversion company, to carry out a retrofit project onboard its flagship hybrid ferry Aurora Botnia, increasing its battery capacity from 2.2 to 12.6 MWh.
Under the contract, BLRT Repair Yards will commence work in autumn 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia.
The retrofit project involves the installation of a 10.4 MWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery system, supplied by AYK Energy. Following the conversion, the vessel will have the biggest battery capacity on a RoPax, according to Wasaline.
The batteries will be in operation in January 2026 and are projected to reduce the vessel’s annual fossil energy use by approximately 10,000 MWh and cut the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 23%.
Finland-based naval architecture and engineering consultancy Foreship was contracted to provide comprehensive technical and strategic support for the retrofit.
Wasaline’s Aurora Botnia was built in 2021 at Rauma Marine Constructions with an aim to enable the company to achieve fully carbon-neutral operations by 2030.
The hybrid vessel is equipped with dual-fuel engines capable of running on LNG and biogas and 2.2 MWh batteries, and it uses electric-powered Azimuth thrusters.
During the ship’s first year of service, Wasaline was able to cut total CO2 emissions by 51.8%.
Recently, the shipping company signed agreements with Nordic energy player Gasum and Swedish ferry operator Stena Line to use only liquified biogas (bio-LNG) on its Baltic Sea route serviced by Aurora Botnia.