Maersk lands fuel agreement for methanol

Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk said August 18 that it established a partnership that would lay the foundation for green fuels in the shipping industry.

Maersk said it would work with REintegrate, a subsidiary of Danish renewable company European Energy, to establish a facility to feed the first vessel operating on green methanol for the shipping company.

“This type of partnership could become a blueprint for how to scale green fuel production through collaboration with partners across the industry ecosystem, and it will provide us with valuable experiences as we are progressing on our journey to decarbonise our customers’ supply chains,” said Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, the CEO of fleet and strategic brands at AP Moller-Maersk. “Sourcing the fuels of the future is a significant challenge, and we need to be able to scale production in time.”

Maersk in July 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.

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.

The vessel, along with the fuel, could be ready as early as 2023.