Klaipėda port’s green course: international ferries will soon be able to switch off their engines while berthed
Port or Klaipėda continues to move along its green course. The port’s terminals have already received the new on-shore power supply systems, and installation is now underway. Testing is planned to begin later this year, and by next year ferries calling at the designated ro-ro terminals will be able to switch off their engines and draw clean electricity from shore -significantly reducing air pollution and noise. The OPS infrastructure being installed in the port is designed specifically for ro-ro vessels, with a total of four shore-power connection points to be set up for ferries.
“Klaipėda Port’s green vision is becoming reality – sustainability here is no longer just a promise. With shore-side electricity, ferries will be able to shut down their engines and reduce their environmental footprint to almost zero. And this is only the beginning. It’s more than a technological milestone – it’s our commitment to the city, its people, and a cleaner future for our sea,” says Algis Latakas, CEO of the Klaipėda State Seaport Authority.
This initiative marks a significant step in Klaipėda Port’s wider shift toward electrification. Earlier this autumn, the port installed its first on-shore power system at the Fleet Base, designed mainly to support the new hydrogen and electric-powered waste collection vessel now nearing completion. The systems now being put in place at the two terminals are specifically tailored for ferries and ro-ro vessels operating between Klaipėda and Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland, carrying rolling cargo. In the coming years, similar systems are planned for other terminals as well, enabling shore-side electricity for cruise ships and container vessels.
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Originally published on 10 Nov
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A new report shows that Finland’s current large-scale trawl fishing in the Baltic Sea results in a socio-economic loss of nearly five million euros per year. This is at a time when several fish stocks are at dangerously low levels. Calculations also show that a new fisheries policy shifting focus from industrial trawling to primarily coastal fishing for food fish could generate socio-economic benefits of up to 25 million euros annually.
Finland’s herring catches in the Baltic Sea have fallen significantly since the peak year of 2016. Despite catches falling by nearly 60 per cent, several fish stocks are at critically low levels. Previously valuable and prized food fish such as Baltic cod and salmon have declined dramatically and can no longer be fished due to fishing bans.
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Originally published on 30 Mar
Metsä Group has launched a preliminary planning project for the first commercial biogenic carbon dioxide capture plant. As part of the plant’s financing plan, the company has submitted an application to a reverse auction organised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, which awards investment grants to clean transition projects.
The potential facility would be located adjacent to Metsä Group’s Rauma pulp mill, and its nominal capacity would be approximately 100,000 tons of captured wood-based carbon dioxide per year. The carbon dioxide would be captured from the mill’s flue gases. This would be a commercial production facility, and its planned capacity would be the first step toward a larger scale: at Metsä Group, the long-term carbon dioxide capture potential from wood is several million tons per year. Carbon dioxide can be used as a raw material in the chemical and fuel industries, among others, and can replace the use of fossil raw materials.
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Originally published on 31 Mar
From December 2027, the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) will be fully applicable, forcing manufacturers of connected products to guarantee cybersecurity throughout the entire lifecycle or lose access to the EU market. For German SMEs, this means urgent upgrades to existing products without halting production. Estonian software engineering company Proekspert specialises in exactly this task—bringing legacy products up to CRA standards without redesigning hardware.
“For many manufacturers, the Cyber Resilience Act is not a future problem. It is already embedded in products currently on the market. Industrial drives and configuration tools are a good example: almost every product with digital elements is now a potential point of attack. Security can no longer be treated as an add-on,” says Marco Spielmann, CEO of Proekspert.
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Originally published on 31 Mar
Dependence on imported raw materials has made Europe vulnerable, exposed to supply chain disruptions and geopolitical uncertainty. Smart regulation is needed to create a level playing field for circular materials, products and business models, and to encourage innovation and reduce environmental pressures.
The European Union is currently formulating the Circular Economy Act (CEA) as a decisive step towards a competitive and more sustainable Europe. This presents a critical opportunity to move Europe’s circular economy from ambition to delivery.
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Originally published on 31 Mar
Members of the Executive Board of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have expressed their dismay to learn that the proposed amendments to the Law on Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) are currently scheduled to be discussed by the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) after Easter without any due consideration being given to recommendations from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, nor to the critical observations expressed by the Seimas’ own legal experts and both the national and international journalist communities
The Executive Board – whose members are the leaders of 8 public service media organizations throughout Europe – stressed again on behalf of the EBU and their own organizations that the current draft law would only further increase the vulnerability of LRT to political pressure and thus severely undermine LRT’s public service remit and vital role in providing the Lithuanian public with independent, reliable and pluralistic information.
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Originally published on 30 Mar
The Airbus ‘Bird of Prey’ interceptor drone successfully completed its first demonstration flight at a military training area in northern Germany. In a realistic mission scenario, it autonomously searched, detected and classified a medium-sized one-way attack (kamikaze) drone. After successful identification, the Bird of Prey interceptor engaged the target with a Mark I air-to-air missile developed by defence tech start-up partner Frankenburg Technologies.
“Against the current geopolitical and military backdrop, defending against kamikaze drones is a tactical priority that urgently needs to be tackled,” said Mike Schoellhorn, CEO Airbus Defence and Space. “With our Bird of Prey and Frankenburg’s affordable Mark I missiles, we are providing armed forces with an effective, cost-efficient interceptor, filling a crucial capability gap in today’s asymmetric conflict theatres. The integration of Bird of Prey into Airbus’ air defence battle management suite IBMS acts as a force multiplier.”
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Originally published on 30 Mar
A delegation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, along with other distinguished guests, visited Hycamite Friday for a tour of its Customer Sample Facility (Decarbonization Plant). The group explored the company’s technology and capabilities, including its battery‑grade graphite production capabilities.
CEO Laura Rahikka and Chairman of the Board Matti Malkamäki hosted the visitors. Following the tour, Malkamäki provided an in-depth briefing on Hycamite’s methane-splitting technology, its role in electrification, and our capacity to convert carbon into battery-grade graphite. Hycamite’s industrial-scale demonstration plant capacity produces 2 kt hydrogen annually in addition to high-value, solid carbon products.
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Originally published on 30 Mar
The Latvian airline airBaltic announces the start of the summer season 2026, running until late October 2026, by introducing nine new routes, relaunching several previously operated services, and increasing frequencies on nearly 30 existing routes from its bases across all three Baltic States and Finland.
Since 29 and 30 March, airBaltic has launched new connections between Riga (Latvia) and Kaunas (Lithuania), Oulu (Finland), and Warsaw (Poland), as well as relaunched services between Riga and Belgrade (Serbia). Additionally, newly launched destinations from Tallinn (Estonia) include Hamburg (Germany) and Vienna (Austria), alongside the relaunch of flights to Oslo (Norway).
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Originally published on 30 Mar
The smallest companies in the Baltics will be eligible for up to €15 million in loans as a result of an initiative that alternative financing provider Capitalia is undertaking with support from the European Investment Fund (EIF). Capitalia will use an EIF guarantee to offer crowdfunded loans to microenterprises in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania over three years.
Microenterprises, which have fewer than ten employees and annual turnover or total assets below €2 million, often struggle to secure funding from traditional lenders because of limited collateral or credit history.
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Originally published on 30 Mar
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending the City of Stockholm 5 billion Swedish kronor (around €470 million euro) to finance the city’s largest environmental investment in decades. The project involves closing the Bromma treatment plant and routing all the city’s wastewater to a significantly expanded and modernised treatment plant at Henriksdal.
The key element of the investment is a new wastewater collection tunnel that will transport sewage from Bromma to Henriksdal. The plant there will be expanded using advanced membrane technology, making it possible to treat more water without increasing the floor area and with significantly better results.
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Originally published on 26 Mar