Methanol’s momentum builds as key infrastructure evolves 

X-Press Feeders orders eight box ships

The orders for methanol dual-fuel vessels grew further in late 2021 with the confirmation by Singapore’s X-Press Feeders for eight 1,170-TEU container ships, with deliveries in 2023 and 2024. Designed by Hamburg-based naval architects Technolog Services GmbH, the box ships will be operated by X-Press Feeders on its Europe and Americas trade routes.

As a result of the increased interest in methanol, MAN Energy Solutions is expanding its engine portfolio to serve the segment with S60ME-C, G60ME-C and G70ME-C versions, providing a choice between seven engines and five bore sizes designed for methanol operation. The first two 60-bore engines are set for release in Q2 2024. No schedule is yet set for the G70ME-C engine.

“One of the 16,200-TEU container ships being built by Maersk will require 44,280 tonnes of methanol per year”

Examining the alternative fuel’s emissions, MAN Energy Solutions director of two-stroke promotion Kjeld Aabo says: “[Operating on] the methanol which is available today, compared to a heavy fuel oil, we will have a reduction of 30% to 50% in NOx, 90% to 97% in SOx, 90% in particulates and 10% in CO₂.” Mr Aabo points out that when e-methanol and biofuels become more readily available the future for the alternative fuel becomes even brighter. “If we consider [using] green methanol or biomethanol … it will be 90% to 95% reduction in CO₂ emissions, with the rest [from] pilot oil.” He adds if biofuel is used as the pilot oil in the future, “then actually we will have 100% CO₂-neutral engine.”

Of course, the success of any future alternative fuel will be predicated on several factors, not the least of which is the ready availability of the fuel itself.

As an example, Mr Aabo estimated one of the 16,200-TEU container ships being built by Maersk will require 44,280 tonnes of methanol per year, based on a 50% load and operating 270 days annually.

Assuring supply of methanol

Port of Gothenburg has been supplying methanol as a marine fuel for the last seven years. Following a pioneering conversion of its four-stroke Wärtsilä engines, the ropax ferry Stena Germanica has been bunkered at the port by truck-to-ship transfer since 2015.

“Now we hope to see Maersk, X-Press Feeders and many other shipping lines routing their new methanol vessels to the North of Europe and we would be delighted to welcome them with open arms to the largest port in Scandinavia,” says Gothenburg Port Authority (GPA) chief executive Elvir Dzanic.

In April, Gothenburg Port Authority published general methanol operating regulations for ship-to-ship bunkering that were approved by the Swedish Transport Agency. The port is also making arrangements to set up a value chain, with the ambition to become the primary bunkering hub for renewable methanol in Northern Europe.

By 2030, Port of Gothenburg wants to reduce shipping emissions by 70% within the port area. One key step to reach this goal is to provide a variety of shipping fuels that reduce emissions – in the port as well as on a global scale.

As this is a general approval for the port, each terminal will do a complementary risk assessment, but this is more of a formality, when the general guidelines are in place.

The move by GPA “is encouraging as we need the ports to be ready when we decide where to route our first line of methanol-propelled vessels,” says X-Press Feeders senior manager marketing Europe, Sven Siemsen.

Additionally, the Port of Gothenburg is working to set up a value chain with the goal of providing e-methanol in the port by 2024.

“We need the ports to be ready when we decide where to route our first line of methanol-propelled vessels”

“Together with industry front runners in the field of E-fuels, such as Liquid Wind and their partner Ørsted, we are working to make this a reality. We are also planning for large-scale storage of methanol, with storage operators in the port when the demand is in place,” adds GPA senior business development manager energy, Christoffer Lillhage. “We encourage methanol producers and stakeholders in the industry to reach out and start dialogue with the Port of Gothenburg, as we have set the aim to become a bunker and storage hub for methanol/e-methanol,” adds Mr Lillhage.

“We are pleased to see that ship-to-ship methanol bunkering and infrastructure will come to reality in the Port of Gothenburg. This is a strong benefit for carriers planning to buy our green electrofuel, e-methanol. It enables Liquid Wind and our value chain collaborators to establish multiple production facilities in Sweden and other Nordic countries,” says Liquid Wind chief executive Claes Fredriksson.

Elsewhere, AP Moller-Maersk has made a series of moves in recent months to ensure a supply of green methanol, most recently signing a letter of intent with multinational Danish energy company Ørsted to develop a Power-to-X-facility on the US Gulf coast. FID on the facility is set for H2 2023, with commercial operation set for H2 2025.

Maersk has also signed a green methanol supply agreement with Swiss-headquartered Proman AG, and another with REintegrate, a subsidiary of the Danish renewable energy company European Energy. The methanol facility will use renewable energy and biogenic CO₂ to produce the e-methanol. The fuel production is expected to start in 2023.