Danish shipping company A.P. Moller – Maersk is the newest member of the Methanol Institute trade association.
A methanol dual fuel ship with a capacity of around 2000 twenty-foot equivalent units will be the Maersk’s first carbon-neutral vessel.
The vessel will be deployed in one of the company’s intra-regional networks. While the vessel will be able to operate on standard very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), the plan is to operate it on carbon-neutral e-methanol or sustainable bio-methanol from the beginning.
Maersk announced the launch of the world’s first liner vessel to operate on carbon-neutral methanol in 2023, which is seven years ahead of the 2030 ambition.
All future Maersk-owned newbuilds will be installed with a dual-fuel technology to enable both carbon-neutral operations and operation on standard VLSFO.
A.P. Moller – Maersk declared the net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 ambition in 2018 and has since identified its primary fuel candidates to be carbon neutral methanol (bio-methanol and e-methanol), alcohol-lignin blends and carbon-neutral ammonia along with the use of biofuels.
“Maersk’s choice of methanol as the fuel for its first dual fuel vessel sends a strong signal to the shipping industry that methanol is a marine fuel for today and tomorrow,” said CEO of Methanol Institute, Gregory Dolan .
Berit Hinnemann , senior innovation project manager of A.P. Moller – Maersk, said: “In pioneering this technology, it will be a significant challenge to source an adequate supply of carbon-neutral methanol within the timeline we have set ourselves. We have a lot of work ahead of us to find the projects which are truly scalable, carbon-neutral and capable of meeting strict life cycle analysis criteria.”