A new segment of shipping, purpose-built CO2 carriers designed to support the emerging efforts at carbon capture and storage (CCS), continues to grow. The first of the commercial operations is beginning, and the sector is driving the development of the ships.
Northern Lights, a partnership between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies was the first to enter the segment, starting commercial operations in 2025. It was designed with an initial capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year and has already announced plans for expansion. It also became the first cross-border project as it has commercial contracts with Yara in the Netherlands, Ørsted in Denmark, Stockholm Exergi in Sweden, and Inherit in Norway.
Last week, on April 9, the company celebrated the naming of its third ship, the Northern Phoenix, a 7,500 cbm gas carrier, with the third ship under a long-term charter from Bernhard Schulte. The vessels transport the CO2 to the company’s facility in Norway, where it is prepared and pumped offshore into permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 meters under the seabed. The first vessels are fueled with LNG and incorporate a rotor for wind-assisted propulsion.
In the second phase, Northern Lights reports it will expand capacity to 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2028. To support this expansion, the company in January announced new partnerships with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” LINE), and MISC Berhad, which ordered one ship and plans a second, and two ships with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. The first three ships, it said, would each have an increased capacity of 12,000 cbm and are expected to enter service between the second half of 2028 and the first half of 2029.
The next entrant into the sector is completing its final commissioning and will work with Project Greensand’s offshore storage effort, being developed by INEOS Energy in Denmark. The vessel for this project is being developed by Royal Warenborg.
