AP Moller-Maersk orders its first methanol-powered vessel
Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk said July 1 it signed its first-ever agreement to procure a vessel that can run on methanol.
The company agreed on a contract with a division of South Korean company Hyundai for a dual-engine container vessel that can sail under the power of methanol or very-low sulphur fuel oil.
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“This groundbreaking container vessel shows that scalable solutions to properly solve shipping’s emissions challenge are available already today,” Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, the CEO of fleet and strategic brands for A.P. Moller – Maersk, said. “From 2023 it will give us valuable experience in operating the container vessels of the future while offering a truly carbon-neutral product for our many customers who look to us for help to decarbonise their supply chains.”
Shippers are obligated under a protocol led by the International Maritime Organisation, called IMO 2020, to limit their sulphur emissions by using fuels such as very-low sulphur fuel oil, liquefied natural gas and other alternatives.
The vessel, which will fly under the Danish flag, will measure 172m long and is planned for the Baltic shipping lane between Northern Europe and the Bay of Bothnia, off the western coast of Finland.
While the methanol-powered vessel order is the first for the Danish company, Japan’s Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering was granted approval in principle from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai for a tanker equipped with a methanol dual-fuel system in March.
Sumitomo said the methanol emits no sulphur and can reduce overall greenhouse emissions by about 8% when compared to heavy fuel oil.