What is the EU ETS and UK ETS?

For shipping, both the EU ETS and UK ETS cover these greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O).

The ETS surcharge you pay will depend on the route you travel, as the EU ETS and UK ETS apply differently to different journeys.

For routes between two EU ports, the EU ETS applies to 100% of the voyage’s emissions. For routes between an EU and a non-EU port, it applies to 50% of the voyage’s emissions.

The UK ETS applies to domestic UK voyages. From 1 July 2026, this includes routes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where shipping companies receive a 50% reduction in the number of allowances they need to give up.

As a result, the ETS surcharge included in the price of your journey may vary depending on the route you choose.

For passengers and freight customers, a surcharge will be applied to the final price when a ferry crossing is booked.

The fuel surcharges are continually adjusted, meaning the price might change from month to month.

We aim to communicate with our customers as much as possible, ensuring you get the fairest price for your crossing, while also working tirelessly to minimise our carbon footprint.

View our monthly ETS charges.

Yes, both passengers and freight customers will be impacted. Your fare may include an ETS surcharge to help cover the cost of the EU or UK emissions trading scheme.

Within Stena Group, our research is ongoing and we are always examining new ways of making our services more sustainable. Some of the alternative fuels we are researching include:

Battery-electric

Stena Line introduced its first battery installation onboard Stena Jutlandica in 2019. This ambitious step came as Stena Line has continued to develop infrastructure to accelerate fossil-free shipping.

Methanol

Apart from the methanol-powered Stena Germanica – the first on the market – we have an ambition to convert several other vessels to methanol.

We are also developing partnerships with producers of sustainably produced methanol (e.g., Liquid Wind/FlagshipONE) to secure the supply of renewable methanol. This is required for our long-term target of shifting to carbon-neutral fuels.

Additionally, after Stena Line’s recent acquisitioning of Wasaline, we are anticipating learning more about Bio-LNG, which could also be a potential pathway for decarbonizing.

Biodiesel

We regard biodiesel as the most realistic tool to achieve a positive impact on emissions in the short term. Together with Stena Teknik and Stena Oil, we are working to secure that the B30 diesel quality is compatible with our current powertrains, as well as ensuring that it is available in the volumes we would need for our operations.

The ETS is expected to cost Stena Line more than 1bn SEK annually (approximately 100M EUR) for our total operations. However, this will depend on our emissions, which we continuously are working to reduce. We aim to pass on as much savings to our customers as possible.