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Neste says it will begin deliveries of low-sulphur marine fuel to Helsinki-headquartered Eckero Line at the beginning of next year. The agreement covers the M/S Finlandia on the Helsinki to Tallinn route throughout 2017.

Commenting on the news, Panu Kopra, Executive Vice President, Oil Retail at Neste, said: "I am happy that Eckero Line selected Neste as its partner. The quality of our low-sulfur marine fuel, lower sulfur emissions, and our logistics services convinced Eckero Line to work with us. Refueling will take place at sea from ship to ship. This eliminates the need for tanker traffic among other cargo in the port area, and increases the safety of fuel distribution."

Taru Keronen, CEO of Eckero Line, remarked: "This fall, M/S Finlandia reached the milestone of five million passengers in only a little over three and a half years. Carrying passenger volumes this high demands extreme reliability from fuel transportation. Neste's precise and safe distribution services and its high-quality product are very important to us."

Neste currently supplies two low-sulphur marine fuels (Neste MDO DMB and Neste RMB) with a sulphur concentration of less than 0.1 percent.

Last week, Neste confirmed that it had entered into an agreement with another Finish passenger ship operator, Viking Line, for the delivery of low-sulphur marine fuel in 2017. The contract covers Viking Line's passenger ships operating in the Baltic Sea.

Earlier this month, Neste also announced that Estonia's AS Tallink Grupp, had agreed to continue its cooperation with Neste next year, which will see Neste supply low-sulphur marine fuel to Tallink Grupp's vessels calling at Finnish ports. The company's ferry business bunkers fuel in Helsinki and Turku.

In November, Neste said that it will begin supplying low-sulphur bunker fuel in Sweden from its Sodertalje terminal - located around 30 kilometres southwest of Stockholm - on 1st January 2017. The supply operation is to primarily serve the Stockholm area, but will also be able to distribute low-sulphur bunker fuel to other locations on the east coast of Sweden.