MOL expands bio-LNG supply network with Axpo in Spain

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines on June 22 expanded its bio-LNG network into Spain, signing a term agreement with Axpo to supply its LNG-fueled car carriers at Málaga and Barcelona. The move gives MOL a second European bunkering corridor for the fuel after Zeebrugge, Belgium, where deliveries began under a separate agreement in March 2025.

Axpo said it completed its first ship-to-ship bio-LNG bunkering operation in Barcelona that day, transferring fuel from its Green Pearl bunkering vessel to MOL’s Lapis Ace vehicle carrier. Axpo described Barcelona as its third major Spanish port bio-LNG operation after earlier transfers in Málaga and Algeciras, a pattern that gives MOL more flexibility for Mediterranean calls without diverting its car carriers far from their trading route.

MOL said the bio-LNG supplied under the new arrangement carries a lifecycle carbon intensity of -15 g-CO2/MJ or less and has ISCC-EU certification. The company also said replacing one ton of conventional heavy fuel oil with the bio-LNG cuts carbon dioxide emissions by about 4.5 tons. That makes the fuel a practical drop-in for LNG-fueled tonnage already designed to handle cryogenic bunkering, while avoiding the equipment changes and fuel-supply buildout that methanol and ammonia would require.

The Spanish expansion follows MOL’s first European bio-LNG milestone on March 16, 2025, when the LNG-fueled car carrier Celeste Ace received about 500 tons of bio-LNG at Zeebrugge from Titan Supply B.V. MOL said that vessel was the first ocean-going ship operated by a Japanese shipping company to use bio-LNG fuel. The company is now extending that model to the Mediterranean, where Málaga and Barcelona give it two additional port options beyond northern Europe.

MOL tied the new supply network to its broader net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions target for 2050 and its bridge-solution strategy, in which LNG-fueled vessels keep running while the company lines up lower-carbon fuels such as bio-LNG and synthetic LNG, or e-methane. Conventional LNG still anchors today’s bunkering infrastructure, but bio-LNG lets MOL retain that operating base and cut lifecycle emissions now, rather than waiting for a full methanol or ammonia fleet transition.