Maersk spends $ 1.4 billion on ships that can run on methanol

Danish company Maersk said on Tuesday it was ordering eight large ocean-going vessels capable of running on what it called “carbon-neutral methanol”.

The world’s largest container shipping company said the ships will be built by South Korean firm Hyundai Heavy Industries and have the capacity to carry around 16,000 containers. According to a number of reports, each ship will cost $ 175 million, for a total cost of $ 1.4 billion.

In a video message, Morten Bo Christiansen, head of Maersk decarbonization, said the ships “will hit the waters from early 2024”. He added: “Once they are all gone sailing on green methanol, they will save a million tonnes of CO2 each year.”

Maersk said the ships will be fitted with a dual-fuel engine, a feature that increases costs. “The additional capital expenditure… for the dual fuel capacity, which allows operation on methanol as well as on conventional low sulfur fuel, will be in the order of 10 to 15% of the total price”, a- he declared. Its agreement with Hyundai Heavy Industries includes an option for four additional vessels in 2025.

While the Danish shipping giant said it would operate the ships “on carbon neutral e-methanol or sustainable bio-methanol as soon as possible”, it also acknowledged that there were problems to be overcome. .

“Supplying an adequate amount of carbon-neutral methanol from the first day of commissioning will be a challenge, as this requires a significant increase in the production of carbon-neutral methanol,” said Maersk.

Simply put, “carbon neutral” means that CO2 emissions are offset by an equal amount of CO2 removal. If something is carbon negative, it means more CO2 is being removed from the atmosphere than it is emitted.

Tuesday’s announcement comes days after Maersk said it had secured a supply of “green” e-methanol for what it described as “the world’s first container ship to run on carbon neutral fuel.”

He said Danish company European Energy and its subsidiary, REintegrate, would set up a facility to produce carbon-neutral e-methanol for use in a vessel designed to run on it. The plant would then produce around 10,000 metric tonnes of e-methanol used by the Maersk ship each year.

The e-methanol will be made from renewable energy and biogenic carbon dioxide, with fuel production for Maersk set to begin in 2023. US Environmental Protection Agency describes sources of emissions biogenic as “emissions from natural sources”.

The environmental footprint of maritime transport is significant. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2019, international maritime transport – a critical cog in the global economy – was responsible for around 2% of “global energy-related CO2 emissions”.

As the world’s major economies attempt to reduce their emissions in order to meet net zero targets, the shipping industry will need to find new ways to reduce the environmental footprint of its operations.

In April, the Brussels-based Transport & Environment campaign group published a wide-ranging report on decarbonising maritime transport. Among other things, he stressed the importance of sustainable fuels for the future.

“Achieving full decarbonization of the shipping industry requires a new source of sustainable and renewable fuel,” his research said.

“Fuels produced by additional renewable electricity (e-fuels or electrofuels) are the only scalable solution that meets the requirements of energy-dense, deployable and clean fuels,” he added.