Methanol Orders Dominate May Orderbook

DNV has released its May figures from the Alternative Fuels Insight (AFI) platform, and according to the latest figures, 33 new orders for alternative fueled vessels were placed in May 2024. 

Methanol continues to be the biggest driver, accounting for 23 of these vessels. Ten of these are from the container segment, along with five bulk carriers, and four car carriers.

LNG continues to lag behind methanol, with eight new orders registered in May, while two new orders for ammonia fueled vessels reinforce the burgeoning momentum already shown for this fuel in the earlier months of the year.

These figures further bolster the trend of steady growth in the ordering of alternative fueled vessels in 2024. So far this year, a total of 127 new orders for alternative fueled vessels have been placed, representing growth of 55% compared to the first five months of 2023.

Jason Stefanatos, Global Decarbonization Director at DNV Maritime commented: “The momentum in the new order market towards alternative fueled vessels is strong, and this has been reinforced by our May figures. Methanol continues to be the headline story, with 70 new orders for methanol-fueled vessels now placed in 2024. This accounts for 55% of all new orders for alternative fueled vessels in 2024. While this is still far behind LNG in overall terms, these latest figures demonstrate a clearly increasing appetite from the market for methanol-fueled vessels.

“Two new orders have also been placed for ammonia fueled vessels, bringing the total this year to 11, compared to just two for the whole of 2023. While still clearly in its early stages, this provides further evidence of the emergence of ammonia on the alternative fueled market.”