Harnessing Surplus Emissions Compliance through Maritime Partnerships
A recent development in the European shipping sector highlights a promising approach to sustainable compliance: leveraging surplus emissions credits through cross-industry collaboration. Finnish forestry company UPM and Bore, a subsidiary of the Spliethoff Group, have joined the FuelEU Maritime compliance pool known as Ahti Pool. Their entry, powered by three dual-fuel LNG vessels operating on bio-LNG, has helped push the pool’s emissions exposure management to over €100 million.
From Intra-EU Shipping to Pan-European Sustainability
The three dual-fuel vessels—Bore Wave, Bore Way, and Bore Wind—have been serving intra-European routes under a long-term charter with UPM since 2019. Now, they also serve a greater environmental function. By operating on bio-LNG, these ships generate surplus compliance under the FuelEU Maritime regulation, which demands progressive reductions in the greenhouse gas intensity of energy used onboard.
According to UPM’s Vice President of Logistics, Jukka Hölsä, this strategic alignment could cut up to 16,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. This carbon efficiency does not come at the cost of operational effectiveness. In fact, UPM asserts that its forest products are now shipped across Europe with minimal emissions and competitive pricing.
A Win-Win Model for Maritime Decarbonisation
The Ahti Pool offers a pragmatic pathway for achieving sector-wide emissions compliance. It enables shipowners of vessels that fall short of the regulatory targets to purchase surplus compliance generated by greener ships. This creates a financial and environmental incentive for operators to invest in low-carbon technologies such as bio-LNG or green methanol.
Bore’s CEO Janne Kauppila calls this partnership “a great example of how companies can assist each other towards their environmental goals.” The initiative avoids penalising smaller or older fleets and instead creates a cooperative ecosystem of compliance.
Scaling the Impact with Smart Aggregation
As of June, the Ahti Pool has expanded to include over 250 vessels, including those from major operators like Neste and Van Weelde Group. With emissions exposure under management surpassing €100 million, the pool illustrates how smart aggregation of emissions credits can facilitate transition across the entire shipping ecosystem—not just within individual companies.
This signals a key evolution in how emissions regulations are met: not just through internal efficiency, but also through intelligent collaboration.
A Foundation for Future Frameworks
According to Ahti Pool’s CEO Risto-Juhani Kariranta, the addition of UPM and Bore strengthens the pool’s capacity and lays the groundwork for long-term alignment with the International Maritime Organization’s Net Zero ambitions. This collaborative foundation allows regulatory frameworks to be met with flexibility and foresight.
This model also suggests a broader potential: can shared compliance frameworks be replicated across transport sectors? In shipping, where margins are tight and compliance costs can be high, this system offers an equitable bridge toward sustainability.
Conclusion
As the Ahti Pool crosses the €100 million threshold in emissions exposure, it is no longer just a compliance mechanism—it is a model for a low-carbon maritime economy built on innovation and cooperation. Initiatives like these show that dual-fuel technology and emissions pooling are not only technically feasible, but also financially compelling and operationally scalable.
By choosing bio-LNG and joining forces, UPM and Bore are navigating toward a cleaner future—proving that in maritime sustainability, working together can often mean going further.