Maersk goes green with first methanol fuelled container ship

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Maersk has ordered the construction of the world’s first containership that can be run on methanol, the shipping giant announced Thursday.

The contract was signed with Hyundai Mipo Dockyards in South Korea to build a medium sized ship, known as a feeder, by mid-2023 which will be equipped with a dual engine that can run on either methanol or marine 0.5% sulfur fuel oil.

The feeder will be 172 meters long and will sail in the network of Sealand Europe, a Maersk subsidiary, on the Baltic shipping route between Northern Europe and the Bay of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea.

"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 decarbonize their supply chains,” says Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Fleet & Strategic Brands, Maersk.

The methanol propulsion configuration for the vessel will be developed by MAN Energy Solutions and Hyundai Engine and Machinery (main engine) and Himsen (aux engine) in collaboration with Hyundai Mipo and Maersk.

Danish company A.P. Moller - Maersk, known as Maersk, is the largest container shipping line and vessel operator in the world, plans to be carbon neutral fleet by 2050.