What is ETS?

Introductory the ETS will only cover CO2 but moving forward it will eventually include nitrous oxides, soot, and methane emissions as well. However, these emissions will be calculated differently from carbons.

For voyages within the European Union countries 100 % of emissions will be legislated. For voyages with departure or arrival in a non-EU country such as United Kingdom or Norway the emissions will be legislated at 50 %. For shipments within or between non-EU countries such as United Kingdom (Northern Ireland – Scotland) no EU regulated emissions legislation will be charged.

As of June 2023, the expected ETS allowances will be implemented as follows.

The cost impact of ETS will be significant, and we will need to introduce a surcharge for it, using the same principle as for existing, similar, externally added costs.

It is too early to say how much we will have to increase our prices as we do not yet have all details from the EU. To start there will be a set price that may fluctuate during the first years.

We will continuously communicate and guide our customers on the expected impact of all surcharges, while also working tirelessly to minimise our carbon footprint on all our services.

Yes, it will.

Within Stena Group, our research are on-going and we are always open to trying different ways of making our services more sustainable. Some of the alternative fuels we are researching include:

Battery-electric

We are working together with Stena Teknik on the development of the concept Stena Elektra with the ambition of making it possible to launch a fully electric ferry by 2030. This will however require the development of infrastructure to charge the ferry in both ports on a specific route so we are in continuous discussions with authorities and other external stakeholders to ensure that the charging capacity is secured prior to going ahead with the project.

Methanol

Apart from the methanol-powered Stena Germanica – the first on the market – we have an ambition to convert several other vessels to methanol. The methanol used today is based on fossil fuels.

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

We cannot comment on a timeline for these fuels today however the use of methanol fuels is a cornerstone in our future strategy.

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.

We cannot provide a timeline for introduction at this point but will come back with an update as we progress with our plans.

The price for new fuel types heavily depends on the balance between supply and demand so we cannot comment on figures at this point, however the current price difference is significant.

The cost will be significant, meaning above 1bn SEK annually (approx. 100MEUR) for our total operations. However, we are awaiting more detailed information on ETS from the EU and it also depends on our CO₂ emissions which we continuously are working to reduce.