Methanol joins the fast-track fuel race

Outside the tanker sector

The announcement by AP Moller- Maersk in August 2021 that it was switching to methanol fuel was the clearest indication yet that this is a serious rival to LNG as a transition fuel to zero-carbon emissions.

AP Moller-Maersk initially ordered 10 container ships with methanol dual-fuel power and this has been subsequently lifted to 19 vessels. The first are scheduled for delivery in Q1 2024 from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.

Maersk has also invested heavily in building a methanol supply chain for its vessels. In December 2022, the company signed its ninth agreement for renewable methanol supply. Notably, many of these agreements have included funding that essentially enables green methanol production companies at early stages of development to build facilities, with Maersk often committing to cover the full offtake of green methanol supplies once production has begun.

Maersk has stated that securing supplies and infrastructure for green methanol is its priority. It has calculated the 19 vessels capable of running on green methanol that are scheduled to be in operation in the coming years will require approximately 750,000 tonnes of green methanol annually.

Logistics

Singapore is developing its methanol infrastructure through various projects, including a new bunkering vessel that will be delivered Q4 2023. Singapore’s Global Energy Trading (GET), a bunker supplier licensed by the MPA, and a sister company, Stellar Ship Management Service, signed a shipbuilding contract with Japan’s Sasaki Shipbuilding to construct the port’s first dedicated methanol bunkering vessel. The Japanese small tanker and gas carrier specialist will construct a 4,000-dwt IMO Type 2 chemical and oil tanker to Bureau Veritas class.

Methanol-powered conversions

One of the advantages of methanol is that converting the main engine can be done relatively efficiently and cheaply, compared to LNG. This includes four-stroke engines. Italian class society RINA has granted an Approval-in-Principle (AiP) to MAN Energy Solutions for its methanol-ready MAN L/V 32/44CR engine.

RINA EMEA special projects manager Patrizio Di Francesco said: “This AiP is based on our recently published Methyl Alcohol Fuelled Ready notation … Methanol is a fuel with a lot of potential as a clean, carbon-neutral fuel.”

Net-zero methanol

Canada-based Methanex and Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) have reported a history-making, 5,000-nautical mile voyage from Geismar, Louisiana to Antwerp, Belgium, completed by Cajun Sun on 4 February 2023.

Cajun Sun is fitted with a two-stroke, methanol dual-fuel Mitsui-built MAN B&W 7S50 ME-LGI seven-cylinder engine. To achieve the net-zero emissions voyage, the 49,993-dwt Cajun Sun used a blend of ISCC-certified bio-methanol, that has negative carbon intensity, with natural gas-based methanol. The tanker achieved net-zero greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis for the 18-day trans-Atlantic voyage.