Wah Kwong Maritime and CIMC ENRIC to collaborate on methanol bunkering project

Hong Kong-based shipping firm Wah Kwong Maritime Transport will procure bio-methanol from Chinese producer CIMC ENRIC for bunkering.

PHOTO: Wah Kwong-operated tanker, Unity Venture. Wah Kwong Maritime

CIMC ENRIC is constructing a bio-methanol plant in Zhanjiang City, China. In the first phase of the project, the plant will use biomass feedstock to produce 50,000 mt/year of bio-methanol.

The facility is expected to become operational in the second half of this year, CIMC said.

Wah Kwong Maritime Transport has signed an offtake agreement to procure part of this initial supply and physically deliver the product for bunkering in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

CIMC added that the plant’s location also enables supply to southern China and Southeast Asia.

On its website, the company also stated that the facility’s capacity is set to expand to 200,000 mt/year in the second phase, though CIMC has not yet provided a timeline for this.

In 2022, CIMC ENRIC signed a separate offtake agreement for part of its bio-methanol from the same plant with Danish shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk.

By Konica Bhatt

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