The Vaasa-Umeå connection is being developed as a Green Shipping Corridor

In the picture: CIO Teijo Seppelin Kvarken Ports, CIO Fredrik Lundberg Umeå kommunföretag, project manager Anna Måtts-Fransén VASEK, CIO Peter Ståhlberg Wasaline and mayor Tomas Häyry City of Vaasa.

The City of Vaasa, Umeå municipality, Umeå Hamn AB, Umeå Kommunföretag AB, Wasaline and Kvarken Ports have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a Green Shipping Corridor between Umeå and Vaasa. The aim of the cooperation is to achieve climate neutrality of the connection by 2030.

In autumn 2021, the UK launched the so-called Clydebank Declaration. The countries that signed it commit to work together to establish at least six green shipping corridors by the mid-2020s. The goal is to have a much larger number of such shipping routes by 2030. The declaration has been signed by 24 countries.

Green shipping corridors are zero-emission routes between two or more ports. This means, according to the declaration, that the fuels used to transport goods between these ports do not emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The aim is to promote cooperation between strategic operators, identify challenges and possible measures to overcome them, integrate possible measures into national action plans and consider the impact of green corridors on the environment and its sustainability in general.

Vaasa and Umeå to Pilot Green Shipping Corridors

Vaasa and Umeå share a long and historically important link across the Baltic Sea. Both cities have also adopted significant environmental goals and aim to become climate-neutral in the future.

Enhanced cooperation between the cities aims to promote green shipping corridors and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from shipping through innovative and environment-friendly solutions:

• To act as an inspiration and forerunner in green shipping.
• To develop a living laboratory for reducing CO2 emissions.
• To stimulate new logistical solutions and environment-friendly innovations.
• To develop a fully fossil fuel-free multimodal transport chain.
• To strive for climate neutrality by 2030.
• Kvarken Ports and Wasaline are involved in two Swedish initiatives that have the potential to provide valuable information to support the work.

The Nordic environment and climate ministers agreed in May 2022 on a specific declaration on a pilot project for green shipping corridors.

The project, led by the Norwegian Classification Society DNV, will focus on maritime transport between the Nordic countries and aims to identify potential routes and actors willing to enter into partnerships to create green shipping corridors. DNV has identified the Vaasa-Umeå route as one of the two most interesting Nordic maritime corridors among 81 routes.

"In May 2022, the Nordic environmental and climate ministers agreed on a special declaration regarding a pilot project for green maritime routes. In the assessment of the pilot project, the route between Vaasa and Umeå has been identified as one of the two most interesting Nordic maritime corridors out of a total of 81 routes. VASEK is one of the organizations that have been involved in supporting the process of the memorandum of understanding's partners. The green maritime corridor is an important component in the development of logistics and ecosystem work", says VASEK's project manager and logistics expert, Anna Måtts-Fransén.