Northern Lights Continues Fleet Expansion with MISC and K Line

The first commercial carbon transfer and storage program across borders, Norway's Northern Lights, is moving forward with the announced fleet expansion, having completed a second charter agreement with MISC Group and K Line (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha).

This was made possible after the announcement in January 2026 of the addition of four new vessels and the recent delivery of a new ship from Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.

About the Northern Lights Project

Northern Lights was established in 2021 as a joint venture between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies in support of the Norwegian Longship project, which is a government initiative for large-scale carbon capture and storage. The company received its first vessel at the end of 2024 and began operations in 2025. It transports liquefied CO2 captured at industrial sites to a terminal in western Norway, and then injects it through a pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 meters below the seabed.

Contracts and Expansion

The project has already secured contracts for the transportation and storage of CO2 from Norwegian industrial facilities, including the Heidelberg Materials cement plant in Brevik and the Hafslund Celsio waste processing plant in Oslo. Additionally, Northern Lights has signed commercial agreements with Yara in the Netherlands, Ørsted in Denmark, and Stockholm Exergi in Sweden.

With an initial capacity for transporting and storing CO2 of 1.5 million tons, Northern Lights announced expansion plans last year. It is expected that by the end of 2028, capacity will exceed 5 million tons per year.

New Vessels

The first two vessels, Northern Pioneer and Northern Pathfinder, were joined in April 2026 by the vessel Northern Phoenix. The third vessel will be used to transport CO2 from Yara and will play a key role in launching commercial cross-border operations. The first three vessels are operated by K Line, while the fourth vessel, Northern Purpose, was delivered in May and is owned by Bernhard Schulte. It will be used to transport LCO2 from industrial clients in Northwestern Europe to Norway.

Northern Lights has conducted a tender for the addition of four vessels. Northern Lights, MISC, and K Line announced that they have completed the second of two additional charter agreements for new vessels. The two vessels, which will be built at Dalian Shipbuilding in China, will be owned by the MISC-K Line joint venture. The contract for the first vessel was finalized in March, and the second contract in May.

These vessels are in addition to two that have also been ordered from the Japanese company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. The two MOL vessels will be built at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. Northern Lights expects the new vessels to begin deliveries in the second half of 2028, with deliveries continuing until 2029.

Specifications

The first four vessels built in China have a capacity of 7,500 cubic meters, distributed in two cylindrical pressure tanks. They are designed to operate with LCO2 at low temperatures and medium pressures. The vessels feature dual fuel LNG with wind support from a rotor and utilize air lubrication under the hull.

With the growth in LCO2 transportation and storage, Northern Lights reported that the next four vessels will nearly double the capacity to 12,000 cubic meters. They will also use dual fuel LNG.

Other carbon capture projects continue to develop, and additional vessels are being built for the new sector. Royal Wagenborg announced at the end of March that its vessel Carbon Destroyer 1 (5,000 cubic meters) has completed sea trials and is moving to the final phase of commissioning alongside onshore and marine systems for the Danish Greensand project.

After commencing operations this year, Carbon Destroyer 1 will begin regular mooring operations between Denmark and the Nini field. Unlike Northern Lights vessels, it is designed for a 36-hour mooring cycle and will directly support the injection of CO2 into underwater storage. The vessel will be able to transport approximately 600,000 tons of CO2 per year.