Maersk partners SIPG to boost methanol bunkering in Shanghai

The companies intend to develop infrastructure to support ship-to-ship (STS) methanol bunkering and build green methanol storage capacities in Shanghai.

PHOTO: Model of Maersk's 17,000 TEU methanol-powered container ship. A.P. Moller-Maersk

Danish container shipping giant A.P. Moller – Maersk has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) to develop green methanol bunkering infrastructure in Shanghai.

As part of the agreement, SIPG will likely provide STS methanol bunkering services to Maersk’s upcoming methanol-powered container ships. The duo will also seek to extend methanol supply to other industries as well.

“Collaborating with ports globally to build green fuel bunkering infrastructures is necessary to service methanol vessels,” says Maersk’s chief executive Vincent Clerc.

Shanghai is one of the busiest container shipping port in the world. Despite the country's zero-Covid policies still being in place for most of last year, the port handled about 47 million TEUs in 2022. That was similar to the 47 million TEUs handled in 2021, but higher than the 44 million TEUs in 2020, SIPG data shows.

Maersk has placed orders for 18-dual-fuel methanol container ships, with deliveries starting next year. Another 2,100 TEU-capacity dual-fuel feeder vessel will become Maersk's first methanol-fuelled vessel. It will be delivered this summer and is expected to operate on shipping routes between Rotterdam and the Bay of Bothnia in the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea.

By Nithin Chandran

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