Key stakeholders discuss the challenges and benefits of developing the world’s first methanol-fuelled box ship
Laura Maersk has arrived and symbolises a turning point for the shipping industry. “This ship is not a very big ship, but in shipping terms it is probably the biggest equivalent of an influencer in social media you will ever find,” explained Maersk chief executive, Vincent Clerc.
Speaking at a global press conference held after the naming ceremony of the world’s first methanol dual-fuelled container ship, Mr Clerc said: “This ship went completely against common sense and intuition at the time [of ordering] but it has started a new trend - the vast majority of ships being ordered are the same as our ship.” Indeed, 125 container ships are following in footsteps of Laura Maersk and deploying methanol.
The timeline of planning 2,100 TEU Laura Maersk and then getting the vessel to water has surpassed expectations, as Maersk head of fleet management and technology, Leonardo Sonzio, explained: “We need to travel back in time to 2018 when we announced carbon neutrality. We little knew how to go about it, and it was a leap of faith at that time, from there to starting to develop a pathway of solutions. We thought it would take 12/13 years to get there. By putting our hearts and minds to it we narrowed down fuel options and eventually funnelled it into methanol as the first solution.”
"This ship went completely against common sense and intuition"
Rather than 12 to 13 years, Maersk achieved its goal, the delivery of its first methanol-fuelled vessel, just five years after announcing its plan to go carbon neutral in 2018.
Mr Sonzio detailed the two main challenges when it came to building the vessel: technical and securing the supply of methanol. “There were a number of technical challenges - we had to use interim guidelines, so there was a lot of work with class, the shipyard and engine supplier to identify potential risks and engineer new solutions to remove some of the risks,” he said.
The company nevertheless achieved a maiden voyage that was sailed entirely on green methanol.
Maersk’s operational backbone is the Asia-Europe and North-South trade network and Mr Sonzio explained that the company is trying to identify methanol production close to its key hubs in these markets.
The intention is to operate on methanol as much as possible, and the vessel, which will trade on a north Europe and Arctic route, will bunker at Port of Rotterdam every five weeks.
Scaling up
Maersk has 18 more methanol-fuelled vessels on it orderbooks currently, sized at 16,200 TEU and 17,000 TEU. Mr Sonzio underlined the importance of Laura Maersk when it came to preparing for the larger vessels.
“This ship is fundamental to scaling up. On day one of operation, we did methanol bunkering, and there was a lot of preparation for this, to take care of safety restraints and ensure that crew was trained in operations. On day one we started clocking expertise and so in that sense it was instrumental. We have been working with ports and authorities in planning how bunkering can happen and taking learnings from this. It [the bunkering] went extremely well and we were on schedule.”
Elsewhere, he said that crew has been working very closely with shore teams to capture all the learning needed for the larger vessels due to be delivered, while the work the company has carried out on the methanol supply chain “cannot be underestimated”.
Maersk has stringent targets, with the aim to be carbon neutral by 2040. “The way we will go about it is with a mix of technology, with newbuilds and retrofits. Retrofits have an important role,” says Mr Sonzio.
Indeed, Maersk has committed to its first methanol retrofit, on a 14,000 TEU vessel. “From that we will learn about challenges, the time in drydock and it will affect our future decisions about whether we do more retrofits or use other pathways,” he said.
“We chose methanol because we cannot delay the reduction of our carbon footprint”
The company is also analysing other alternative technologies. “The beautiful part of ammonia is that the molecule does not have carbon in it but the challenges are very high toxicity, and there are high safety challenges. The technology is not there today, although it is being developed,” Mr Sonzio said.
Collaboration
Above all, Mr Sonzio underlined the importance of collaboration, as the industry aims for net zero. “Working alone will not get you anywhere. It is one of those challenges that requires deep, profound collaboration over the years with technology suppliers, regulators, customers, fuel suppliers, energy producers and research institutes.”
Indeed, in September this year it was announced that Maersk has joined forces with CMA CGM to accelerate shipping’s progress towards decarbonisation. Both shipping lines will work together to develop the use of alternative green fuels for container vessel propulsion.
Mr Sonzio said: “This is a race against time, we are technology agnostic; we chose methanol because we cannot delay the reduction of our carbon footprint. The solution is available here and now and it is scalable.”
Construction: behind the scenes
HD Hyundai shipyard in South Korea built Laura Maersk.
The shipyard has a good range of experience in building methanol-powered ships, having delivered a total of 16 methanol-powered methanol carriers since 2013.
Explaining the key considerations behind the design and construction of the ship, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries chief operating officer and head of ship sales and offshore marketing division, Seungyong Park, said: “It is important to come up with an optimal equipment deployment and efficient loading space plan for small-sized container ships, as the ship itself is relatively smaller. It is also important to find ways to solve issues that may happen to workers, as they too have to work in limited space.”
HD Hyundai developed the world’s first four-stroke methanol engine and applied the knowledge it gained from that experience to this 2,100 TEU ship. Mr Park said: “Acquiring the latest technologies to manage methanol’s chemical reaction was crucial in the process.”
Mr Park said: “While the 2,100 TEU vessel has distinguishing characteristics as a methanol-powered ship, the container ship itself has the shape and features of a normal container ship. Larger vessels to be built, on the other hand, are different, as they are being applied with a new concept for container ships, with a cabin in the stem and a funnel in the stern.”
As well as being methanol-fueled, Laura Maersk also has other energy efficient and environmentally friendly features. HD Hyundai applied a new type of hull, that offers improved fuel efficiency by mitigating wave impacts, and reduced energy consumption by mounting a dual-fuel engine system that supplies both methanol and diesel.
New features on the larger methanol-fueled vessels being built include diverse energy saving systems, such as a shaft generator, an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) module and a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) control applied to the cooling water systems and air supply ventilation fans in the engineroom. There will also be an air-lubrication system at the bottom of a ship.
MAN Energy Solutions won the order to supply Laura Maersk with the world’s first, low-speed, dual-fuel engine to run on methanol within the container segment – a MAN B&W 6G50ME-LGIM model.
MAN Energy Solutions vice president, head of research and development, two-stroke, Brian Østergaard Sørensen, said: “We launched our first methanol engines in 2016, but for the first few years, these were used for methanol tankers.”
He described how Maersk’s first order has opened the doors for other shipping segments. “We have grown from one order three years ago [Maersk] to more than 150 of these engines on order today. Maersk has been pioneering for other ship segments, it has opened the door for other orders.”
Describing the reasons behind the uptake of methanol, he said: “The technology is ready now, whereas ammonia is still a few years down the line. Handling methanol is also relatively easy in terms of storage and the fuel supply system.”
Describing the LGIM platform being used in Laura Maersk, he said: “We looked at how we could create the best combustion and introduced this technology in 2016. The Maersk engine is similar in size to what we introduced at that time. The dual-fuel engine has two operating modes, one for diesel and one for methanol.
“A single methanol fuel engine means that the uncertainty around availability of fuel that would have been a challenge. But having the dual fuel gives us an insurance. So if shipowners cannot get methanol they can operate on liquid oil and can gradually run more on methanol as it becomes available.”
Highlighting the importance of the smaller engines used for Laura Maersk and its sisters, in term of scaling up to the bigger vessels’ larger engines, which MAN ES is also supplying, Mr Sørensen said: “The safety systems and engine control software for the large engines have been tested and verified on the smaller engine. Today, we have more than 500,000 service hours on the smaller engines, which gives us an input in how to scale up and operate and have efficiency in the technology we put out there.”
Securing methanol supply
Securing the methanol supply and its production have been key to the project.
Mr Clerc highlighted the need to scale-up green energy production. “We need to have it [green energy] reduced to a certain price point to make it economically viable for us and our customers. Compared to a couple of years ago, a lot has happened. The market for green methanol is very small if you compare it to the need we have just a few years down the road. But if you look at the amount of investment in the pipeline globally, it looks quite different.”
And that investment is gaining momentum. It was revealed on the delivery of Laura Maersk that Maersk and its parent company AP Møller Group have launched a new green methanol venture called C2X.
This is an independent company aiming to build, own and operate assets to produce green methanol at scale. It is majority owned by AP Møller Holding with AP Møller-Maersk as minority owner.
European Energy’s e-methanol plant in Kassø, Denmark is central to providing fuel to Maersk’s dual-fuelled methanol vessels.
“Working alone will not get you anywhere”
Since the company decided to establish the plant two years ago, progress has been swift.
European Energy EVP and head of Power-to-X, Emil Vikjær-Andresen, said: “We received the construction permit in May and also needed 29 individual permits. It is the first time Danish authorities have planned for a methanol facility, so it is new for all involved.”
The plant will be up and running in H1 next year, when it will be producing its first drums of methanol. It will ramp up production through the year, reaching an annual 32,000 tonnes that it will deliver to Maersk, the LEGO Group, Novo Nordisk and Circle K.
Maersk was crucial to the creation of the facility, which will be the world’s biggest methanol plant. Mr Vikjær-Andresen said: “The ability for Maersk to make a long-term contract is what made it possible for us to make an investment decision on this plant. We needed credit-worthy off takers willing to do a long-term agreement with us.”
This is just a first step for European Energy – it is developing next-generation plants that will be three times larger, targeting 100,000 tonnes a year in Denmark and the US. The company is also developing plants in northern Europe, the Baltics and Australia, where it is already present with a large pipeline of renewable energy, which will feed the power into these projects.
“We needed credit-worthy off takers willing to do long-term agreements”
But this first plant is important in terms of scaling up. Mr Vikjær-Andresen said: “You need the practical experience necessary to go to even larger projects and start duplicating what you have; our ambition is to make methanol cheaper as we go along, but first we need to get the experience of constructing, seeking permission from authorities and running plants – looking at what we can optimise, how we work with the supply chain to cost it out for the common good. This first plant allows us to gain first-mover experience and find solutions.”
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