Marcus Prest
Editor Åbo Akademi University
Finland
The initiation of a green corridor between Turku and Stockholm is a way to present proof of a working sustainable concept. Besides the evident environment advantages, being first also opens up potential large profits from new technologies, economy and community development.
Since the summer passengers on the Viking Line cruise ferries Grace and Glory can chose to pay an extra biofuel-fee. This add-on cost pays for the difference between more expensive biofuels compared to cheaper fossil fuel. For a single passenger travelling one-way between Turku and Stockholm the add on sum is 2 euros and 30 cents. This is a concrete step in developing a green corridor, a carbon neutral transport route between the logistical hubs of Finland and Sweden.
– In Finland the logistics hub is located between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. In Sweden the hub is situated between Stockholm and Örebro. It should be possible to eliminate the emission effects on the sea lane used by Viking Line connecting the hubs between Turku and Stockholm says Magnus Gustafsson, head of research and docent in industrial economy at Åbo Akademi University. He leads a project that aims to connect different actors like Viking Line, Rauma Marine Construction, SSAB, Wärtsilä and Kempower. He is also a partner at the PBI research institute, who have developed the business model for the green corridor.
– A green corridor means more than sea transport. Road transports and other related activities should also be included.
In this context a logistics hub means the area where the main share of the industrial activity of a state is situated. Planning the infrastructure, business concepts and legal framework that enables a carbon neutral corridor between these hubs is a way of providing a proof of concept; proof that one has a working model – an important step for a more sustainable future.
Besides the obvious value in protecting the environment, the concept has great potential business advantages for those who invest first. The number of separate parts and the complexity of individual bits is great enough for other nations to be interested if a tested and working concept is provided.
– The technology to build fuel efficient carbon neutral vessels already exists, says Håkan Enlund, sales and marketing director, at Rauma Marine Constructions.
– What is needed is a demand for implementing the technology. By creating a green corridor one shows how all the different pieces are assembled in practice. The legal framework is stress tested, as well all other processes. Being able to carry through tests is valuable since you can’t see everything that needs to be adjusted from the drawing board.
RMC has continually built advanced ships in small batches and therefore has not committed time and recourses to long intervals before being able to take the next step. It is this kind of thinking Magnus Gustafsson says is one of the strongest aspects of Finland:
– Bluntly put; it is our knowledge and skill base that is our greatest resource. It’s neither our forests nor our minerals the success of this country is built upon. What we have is an ability to build expensive attractive high-tech products, rather than producing cheaply in bulk. But this also demands that we apply our skills. In the green transition we are in right now there is a unique opportunity for us to become world leading.
Heikki Hellsten, head of logistics at SSAB Europe, the largest producer of commercial steel in the Nordics, wants SSAB to take the lead in the green transition.
– Our goal is to be completely carbon neutral by 2030.
That is an ambitious goal, considering the SSAB steel factory in Raahe alone produces 7 percent of the total emissions of carbon dioxide in Finland. A billion euros worth of investments in new technology will change the manufacturing processes throughout the company. The carbon neutrality ambition on SSABs part concerns the whole production cycle from ore mining, electrolysis, steel manufacture and transport to the costumer.
– Nobody gets that excited if we say that a certain part of the process is carbon neutral. But if we say that we can offer a product that is carbon neutral end-to-end, then we have something real to offer. There is a demand on that kind of product, and the demand will increase.
It is actors like SSAB that create pressure for change: they are large enough to be able to affect the market and supply in for example road transports, but also maritime transports. SSAB is happy about Viking Lines initiative to provide renewable biogas as a fuel alternative for transports.
– To Viking Line this latest step from LNG to LBG, meaning from natural gas to biogas, is a part of a process that started in the 1980:s. This is no end point, but a part of our continuous development work taking care of the Baltic Sea, and our archipelago, says Harri Tamminen, freight director at Viking Line.
Presently biogas and carbon neutral transports and processes are more expensive than those using fossil fuels. A part of the market incentives to make a green transition derives from laws concerning emission trade and the emission fees the European Union plans on implementing on products produced outside the Union. Both Hellsten and Tamminen also want to see a certification system and measurability for reliably proving the product and the services are manufactured according to the strict emission demands one has committed to.
– Those who operate on the same market should adhere to the same rules, says Tamminen.
Gustafsson says the transition to sustainability demands more from all actors.
– By placing high demands on ourselves, we will create better technology and with the same ambition we also create better jobs and a cleaner environment. And the green corridor exists already, people and businesses can start buying the services straight away – and that in turn will improve the whole line of supply.