SIMIC

DANISH shipping giant Maersk is continuing with its strategy of only ordering newbuild vessels that can sail on green fuel consistent with its commitments to be net-zero by 2040. The company led the container shipping industry in 2021 with the first orders for dual-fuel methanol vessels and highlights the rapid growth in the orderbook for methanol-ready ships.

AP Moller-Maersk and China's private shipyard Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group confirmed the order of six dual-fuel methanol-ready containerships. Maersk is calling the vessels "mid-sized" as they will have a capacity of 9,000 TEU. The rendering shows a conventional design with two islands, unlike the new design for the company's larger methanol-fueled containerships, according to The Maritime Executive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.



"For these six container vessels, we have chosen a design and vessel size which make them very flexible from a deployment point of view. This will allow these vessels to fill many functions in both our current and our future network, thereby offering the flexibility our customers demand. Once phased in, they will replace existing capacity in our fleet," says Rabab Boulos, chief infrastructure officer at Maersk.



Yangzijiang reports the vessels will be domestically designed and built as the group's entry into methanol-fueled vessels.



"With this order, we take another step in the green transformation of our fleet and towards our target of becoming net-zero in 2040," said Ms Boulos. She highlights that these replacement vessels will have the ability to reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by 450,000 tonnes of CO2 per year when operating on green methanol.



Maersk will launch the methanol-fueled containership era later this summer with the delivery of its first vessel from South Korea. The 2,100 TEU feeder vessel is scheduled to make the more than 11,000 nautical mile delivery voyage to Copenhagen fueled entirely on green methanol. It will then enter service in the Baltic both as a demonstration ship and a learning experience for Maersk in the operation of methanol-fueled vessels.



For Yangzijiang the order continues a strong stream of contracts this year. So far in 2023, the yard reports a total of sixty-nine vessels ordered worth US$5.6 billion. They highlight that after six months they have already exceeded their 2023 order target of $3 billion. The yard says it has its largest-ever backlog with a total of 180 vessels ordered with a value of $14.6 billion.