ESL Shipping, part of Finnish conglomerate Aspo, and global steel manufacturer SSAB have agreed a multi-year extension for the transport of inbound raw material sea transports within the Baltic Sea and from the North Sea.
The new contract also covers transport of SSAB’s fossil-free sponge iron including the possibility of fossil-free shipments. The sea transport volume covered by the agreement is estimated to be 6–7m tonnes annually.
ESL Shipping previously stated that it would invest just over $200m for four 17,000 dwt multipurpose vessels, which can operate fossil-free using green methanol. This is one of the ways ESL Shipping is preparing to support SSAB in its transition to fossil-free steelmaking.
“We have made major investment decisions during the past years, the latest in handy-sized vessels that can operate on hydrogen-based E-fuel and earlier in electric hybrid coaster-sized vessels. I am glad to see that these investments are well received by our customers”, says Rolf Jansson, CEO of Aspo and chairman of the board at ESL Shipping.