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Maersk adds to methanol-fuelled box ship orders
With a contract for another six ships inked, the container shipping giant’s methanol-powered vessel orders are approaching 20
AP Moller-Maersk has ordered six large oceangoing vessels that, once built, will be equipped to sail on green methanol.
The six vessels will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and have a nominal capacity of approximately 17,000 containers, measured in twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU. Maersk said the new vessels will replace existing capacity in its fleet and are all to be delivered in 2025.
The six 17,000-TEU vessels running on green methanol will save about 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, according to Maersk.
Maersk made a significant commitment to methanol when it ordered eight vessels from HHI in 2021 as part of an order with an option for more vessels. The company said the vessels would ultimately be carbon neutral and run on green methanol.
Since then, the company has gone about securing production and volumes of green methanol, seeking to ensure its vessels will have access to the fuel in key locations around the world.
- Maersk continues methanol market building with Chinese partnership
- Maersk targets Egypt for renewable energy-driven marine fuel production
- Maersk agrees green methanol deals with Proman, Ørsted
- Maersk reveals designs for methanol-powered container ships
- Maersk makes second move to secure methanol
- Maersk orders eight methanol dual-fuel engines
- New e-methanol facility to supply Maersk’s carbon-neutral box ship
- Maersk methanol-powered box ship order could total a dozen vessels
- Maersk orders world’s first carbon-neutral methanol-fuelled box ship
Maersk has set a net-zero emissions target for 2040 across the entire business and has also set tangible near-term targets for 2030 to ensure the company makes significant progress toward its goals. The interim targets include a 50% reduction in emissions per transported container in the Maersk Ocean fleet compared with 2020 and a principle of only ordering newbuilt vessels that can be operated on green fuels.
With its latest order, Maersk has, in total, ordered 19 vessels with dual-fuel engines able to operate on green methanol.
"Benchmarked against conventional fuel capabilities, additional capital expenditure for the methanol dual-fuel capability is in the range of 8-12%, which is an improvement compared to when Maersk ordered eight vessels with the same technology last year," the company said in a statement.
The six 17,000-TEU vessels are all to be delivered in 2025 and will sail under the flag of Denmark. They all come as part of Maersk’s ongoing fleet renewal programme and their capacity will replace an equal amount of capacity reaching end-of-life and leaving the Maersk managed fleet. When all 19 vessels on order are deployed and have replaced older vessels, they will generate annual CO2 emissions savings of around 2.3M tonnes.
Maersk further reiterates its strategy of maintaining a fleet capacity at a maximum of 4.3M TEU, as a combination of Maersk managed and time-chartered vessels.
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