Roundup: Shipowners, Ports Ramp Up Methanol-Fuel Projects

By Carman Chew and Jeslyn Lerh

SINGAPORE, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel has grown in the shipping industry, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Below is a list of upcoming methanol bunkering-related projects by companies and ports: 

COMPANIES:

A.P. Moller-Maersk

Maersk received the world’s first methanol-enabled container ship in July. It has 24 more such vessels on order to help it to achieve its goal of using low-emission fuels to transport a quarter of its volumes by 2030.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries expects to build a dozen more such vessels, which are 16,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) in size, for 2024 delivery, while six 17,000-TEU ships are planned for 2025 delivery. 

Maersk at the end of June said it had ordered six 9,000-TEU vessels to be built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group for delivery between 2026 and 2027.

CMA CGM

CMA has ordered at least 18 methanol-fueled vessels. It ordered six 15,000 TEU containers from China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) last June, with delivery planned for 2025, and another 12 such vessels in April this year, as part of a record $3 billion deal with CSSC. 

COSCO Shipping Holdings

The company ordered 12 methanol-powered 24,000 TEU ships last October, worth nearly $2.9 billion, that will be delivered between the third quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2028. In June, the Chinese box ship giant added four more 16,000-TEU ships to be built in Yangzhou.

In August, it took delivery of methanol-ready Green Kotka, a multi-purpose 68,000-tonne pulp carrier built by Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co. Ltd.

HMM Company Limited

Nine 9,000-TEU dual-fueled methanol ships will be delivered to HMM between 2025 and 2026. They will be built at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction 097230.KS (HJSC) in the port of Yeongnam. 

Stena Bulk

The tanker company partnered with methanol producer Proman and completed its first U.S. Gulf Coast barge-to-ship methanol bunkering at Houston port in April. Proman expects to receive the last two of six methanol-fueled chemical tankers it ordered by end-2023.

Hafnia Ltd

Hafnia ordered four 49,800 deadweight dual-fueled methanol chemical tankers to be constructed in Guangzhou, China. Three of the four vessels will be delivered in 2025, and the fourth in 2026.

X-Press Feeders

The company will procure green methanol from OCI Hyfuels in the Port of Rotterdam for the former’s first 14 dual-fueled vessels arriving in the second quarter of 2024. 

Eastaway, part of X-Press Feeders, also commissioned eight 1,170-TEU container ships that will likely start operations end-2024, and added six more 1,250-TEU container vessels to be delivered between 2025 and 2026.

PORTS

China

COSCO, CMA CGM and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in April to procure, supply and deliver green methanol fuel at major ports in China. In March, Maersk signed an MoU with SIPG to explore green methanol bunkering for its container vessels in 2024. 

Singapore

Singapore completed its first green methanol bunkering operation in July on a Maersk container ship. The project was a joint collaboration between Maersk, Hong Lam Marine, American Bureau of Shipping, Mitsui & Co. 8031.T, OCI Global, Stellar Shipmanagement, Vopak Terminals, and Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority.

Melbourne

The port in April signed an MoU with Maersk, Svitzer Australia, CMA-CGM subsidiary ANL, Stolthaven Terminals, as well as fuel producers HAMR Energy and ABEL Energy, to explore the commercial feasibility of establishing a green methanol bunkering hub in Australia’s largest container port.

Sweden

The port of Gothenburg in January completed the world’s first ship-to-ship methanol bunkering on Stena Germanica, the world’s first methanol-powered ferry. The port will team up with Inter Terminals Sweden (ITS) to develop a methanol storage facility by end-2023. 

Egypt

Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemicals (ANRPC) signed a $450 million agreement in May with Norway’s Scatec to produce Egypt’s first green methanol.

(Reporting by Carman Chew and Jeslyn Lerh; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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