Maersk to deploy methanol dual-fuel newbuild on Asia-Europe trade lane
Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) said it will deploy the first of its large methanol dual-fuelled vessels on a Asia-Europe trade route from February next year.
PHOTO: Maersk's vessel at HHI's shipyard in South Korea. A.P. Moller-Maersk
The 16,000-TEU container ship, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea, will be equipped with a dual-fuel engine that can operate on methanol and biodiesel, besides conventional marine fuels, the company said.
The vessel will be deployed on the Asia-Europe trade route, covering ports of Ningbo and Shanghai in China, Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Hamburg in Germany. It will be followed by two sister vessels that will be deployed in the first half of 2024, Maersk said.
“Maersk has secured sufficient green methanol to cover the vessel’s maiden voyage and continues to work diligently on 2024-25 sourcing solutions for its methanol-enabled vessel fleet,” the Denmark-based company added.
Last month, Maersk signed an offtake agreement with Chinese methanol producer Goldwind for supply of 500,000 mt/year of green methanol from 2026. It has also signed supply agreements with 10 other methanol producers to source over 1.7 million mt/year of green methanol by 2025.
Maersk currently has 24 methanol dual-fuel container ships on order. All these vessels will be equipped with dual-fuel engines that can run on green methanol.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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