Final preparations are under way at the Saaremaa-based Baltic Workboats (BWB) shipyard, to hand over the new vessel to the State Fleet. The vessel is highly innovative both for the shipyard and more broadly, given its fuel source. Local cows are now producing more than just milk, with manure transported by tanker trucks from Saaremaa's farms to the Tahula biogas plant for transforming into usable fuel.

"It takes five loads for us to produce one container of fuel. That is the daily output of one and a half large farms, which is enough for one of our containers," said Lauri Jasmin, head of the Tahula facility.

The compressed biomethane produced from cow manure at the plant is then transported to the vessel in containers, with three containers on board at a time.

"The system is certainly unique in that it has two sets of containers, meaning six containers in total. Three are always on board the vessel, while the other three can be sent to any biogas plant in Estonia for refuelling," project manager Rando Varblane told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Depending on speed, the vessel can travel 300–500 nautical miles on one gas container.

"I would say with 99 percent certainty that this is completely unique in the world. Estonian engineers designed the vessel, and Estonian companies developed the fuel system, which is extremely complex when you look at how many pipes there are in the engine room. The vessel does use an internal combustion engine, but instead of diesel, it runs on methane — and biomethane at that. I certainly hope this will not remain the only one and that Estonia will continue to innovate. Estonia lost its competitive edge in simply making cheap things a long time ago," said Margus Vanaselja, BWB board chair.

"Let us put it this way: For the captain, it does not make much difference what fuel the vessel runs on. The main thing is that it has enough power," the workboat's skipper Ernst Siniorg explained, adding that there is no difference between the new vessel and one powered by fossil fuels.

"At the moment, we can certainly see that our cows are doing a fine job and can sail the seas perfectly well!" Jasmin joked.

Biomethane is produced by purifying raw biogas until practically resembles natural gas. The process breaks down organic waste, in this case agricultural manure, through anaerobic digestion to create biogas, which is then refined by removing carbon dioxide and other impurities.

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