The rise of the box ship green corridor

Green corridors will boost conditions that will ease the path for decarbonisation, helping to establish bunkering facilities and fuel availability, and providing incentives for those that adopt zero-carbon fuels. They will provide a setting for collaboration – so important when it comes to reaching net zero – and provide stakeholders with potential government support.

Collaboration is underlined when it comes to the Green Shipping Corridor being developed between Shanghai and the US West Coast. This issue’s Ports Regional focus highlights this topic. It features an interview with Port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero. POLB is a member of the corridor.

Mr Cordero says, “Just a few years ago, there were a lot of doubts within the industry about how fast we could move the needle with decarbonisation. That is a challenge, however, there is a consensus that – whether shipper, carrier, port or regional government – there is a need to address decarbonising waterborne transport.

“The good news is there is a lot of energy to do this.” 

He singles out the symposium he attended this year in Shanghai for the Green Shipping Corridor. 

The challenge, he says, is “technology and the availability of vessels to get us to that point”. 

But steps are being taken. Take Europe’s first green feeder network powered by green methanol, that has been launched by X-Press Feeders. Eco-Maestro is the first of 14 dual-fuel vessels X-Press Feeders has on order.

As our feature highlights, X-Press Feeders’ first methanol-powered green corridor incudes the Green Finland X-PRESS and the Green Baltic X-PRESS. OCI Global is supplying the green biomethanol, which is produced from decomposed organic matter, such as waste and residues.

Highlighting how such green corridor strategies can develop, X-Press Feeders is keen to expand into more green feeder services.

An important point in this respect is the memorandum of understanding (MoU) X-Press Feeders signed with six European ports: the Port of Antwerp Bruges (Belgium), Port of Tallinn (Estonia), Port of Helsinki (Finland), Port of HaminaKotka (Finland), Freeport of Riga (Latvia) and Klaipeda Port (Lithuania).

X-Press Feeders chief operating officer Francis Goh comments, “The port MoU is a good partnership to have so they can support us in the future. Today, we have methanol at Rotterdam, tomorrow there will be other ports for supply too. It is great for us to share information [with the ports]. Basic information is important to share, such as how many tonnes of methanol they have at any given point in time. They need to do the groundwork to set up the infrastructure.”

The role of the shipper is also an important element when it comes to green corridors, as our feature says. X-Press Feeders has seen customers expressing an interest and its first contracted customer is Evergreen for the green network.

The momentum behind green corridors has started. Expect more green corridors to develop.