Maersk Orders 'World's First' Carbon-neutral Methanol Fueled Container Ship

Shipping giant Maersk said Thursday it had ordered a feeder vessel with a dual-engine technology enabling it to sail on either methanol or traditional very low Sulphur fuel.

The feeder, for which Maersk says will be the world's first container vessel fueled by carbon-neutral methanol, 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. 

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. The classification society will be American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Fleet & Strategic Brands, A.P. Moller - Maersk said: "This groundbreaking container vessel shows that scalable solutions to properly solve shipping’s emissions challenge are available already today. 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.” 

”Developing this vessel is a significant challenge, but we have already come a long way in our work with the yard and the makers to reach this milestone. While we are pioneering these solutions for our industry, we are working with well-proven technologies and the cost potential from further scaling is becoming very clear to us,” says Ole Graa Jakobsen, Head of Fleet Technology, A.P. Moller - Maersk.