Maersk Accelerates Switch to Carbon Neutral Operations

Oleochem Analytics — A.P. Moller-Maersk will introduce eight large ocean-going container vessels capable of being operated on carbon neutral methanol to accelerate the decarbonisation of its fleet and meet increased customer demand for greener transportation, the company announced August 24.

The world’s biggest shipping company is investing $1.4bn on the eight vessels, which are expected to be in operation by Q1 2024, the company said.

The vessels come with a dual fuel engine setup. Additional expenditure for the dual fuel capability, which enables operation on green methanol as well as conventional low-sulphur fuel, will be in the range of 10-15% of the total price, the company said.

The company said the vessels will be built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and have a nominal capacity of approximately 16,000 containers (Twenty Foot Equivalent – TEU). The agreement with HHI includes an option for 4 additional vessels in 2025.  

The series will replace older vessels, generating annual CO2 emissions savings of around 1 million tons, the company added.

The Danish company plans to reduce their CO2 emissions by 60% in 2030, compared to 2008. Their final goal is to only order new vessels which can use carbon-neutral fuel, as it seeks to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050, Maersk said on its website.

“The big challenge will be to source green fuels (for the vessels), so that is what we will work on now”, Morten Bo Christiansen, A.P. Moller-Maersk Head of Decarbonisation, said in a video on the company website.

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