Photo provided by China Marine Bunker. The image shows a roundtable discussion on energy transition for inland river vessels at the “China Marine Bunker 2026 Global Partners Conference”.
Currently, China’s “dual carbon” strategic policy is gradually becoming clear. Domestic shipping takes methanol and batteries as the dominant new energy pathways, supports the independent development of LNG, and develops according to local conditions in different regions.
While the new energy transition of ocean-going shipping faces multiple challenges, the new energy transition of China’s inland river shipping has already demonstrated economic viability. Yuan Hou’an, Chairman of Wuhan Innovation Jianghai Shipping Co., Ltd. (Wuhan Innovation Jianghai), which has been operating in the shipping sector for 57 years, shared the commercial value of new energy inland river vessels at the “China Marine Bunker 2026 Global Partners Conference”: the fuel price for the company’s deployed LNG dual-fuel vessels is 15% to 20% lower than traditional diesel, and the annual gross profit of a 15,000-ton vessel can reach twice that of a traditional diesel vessel; the methanol-fueled vessels developed later, combined with technological optimization and national and local subsidies, have a single-vessel subsidy exceeding 20 million yuan, giving them exceptionally prominent competitive advantages. As a pioneer in the new energy transition of inland river shipping, Yuan Hou’an’s practice demonstrates the broad prospects of the new energy transition, but he also frankly admits that the industry currently faces practical difficulties—overall, China’s new energy inland river vessels are still in their infancy, and supporting regulations and services lag behind market development needs.
The mainstream is still watching others “eat the crab”
Although Yuan Hou’an has strong competitiveness due to the new energy transition, “Yuan Hou’an” is still a rarity. Wei Yingchun, Deputy Director of the Wuhan Rule Research Institute of the China Classification Society, introduced that as of the end of 2024, there were approximately 110,000 domestic water transport vessels in China, of which new energy vessels accounted for a very low proportion: about 600 LNG-powered vessels, about 640 battery-powered vessels, only 22 methanol-powered vessels, and only 1 hydrogen-powered vessel, totaling less than 1.2%.
Regarding the supply of marine fuel: First, for inland river vessels, diesel is currently the main fuel (accounting for 99.7%), with LNG sales of about 24,000 tons in 2024 and about 60,000 tons in 2025. Second, for coastal vessels, there are many plans for green fuels (focusing on green methanol and green ammonia), but few have actually been put into production and application—the China Classification Society predicts that the production capacity of green methanol will be 4 million tons by 2030, but currently only 300,000 tons have been produced and put into bunkering application.
Regarding bunkering stations: From Dalian Port in the north to Shenzhen Port in the south, there are about 25 bunkering stations for inland river vessels with LNG and methanol bunkering capabilities, mainly mobile bunkering ships, with some stations not operating effectively—”Most LNG bunkering points are in a loss-making state, and an annual bunkering volume of about 8,000 to 10,000 tons is needed to break even,” Wei Yingchun explained.
Why is the new energy transition of inland rivers slower than expected? The industry generally reflects that the core contradiction lies in the development of technical specifications and supporting facilities lagging behind the speed of market development. When sharing his shipbuilding experience, Yuan Hou’an mentioned that currently there are only industry guidelines for methanol engines, and formal mandatory specifications have not yet been issued, causing a delay of more than 3 months in the construction of his methanol vessel and an additional cost of over 4 million yuan. At the same time, the bottleneck in the construction of bunkering facilities is even more prominent: methanol vessels have already been launched and are operating, but no large-scale methanol bunkering station has been built in the Yangtze River basin. Shipowners can only be “led by the nose” by mobile bunkering ships, a model that is completely unable to support normal operations.
Supporting facilities themselves also face approval and regulatory challenges. Zhang Tianfu, General Manager of CIMC New Energy (Jining) Technology Co., Ltd. (CIMC New Energy), mentioned that the average approval process for traditional fixed LNG bunkering stations takes nearly 4 years, making it difficult to implement for a long time; cross-regional regulatory standards for the construction of waterborne new energy network points are not uniform, and many innovative recharging models, such as LNG tank swapping, still face policy bottlenecks for hoisting at cargo terminals because fuel tanks are classified as hazardous chemicals. Ding Changrong, General Manager of China Marine Bunker Nanjing Company, also frankly stated that the approval of waterborne new energy bunkering bases involves multiple departments on water and shore, with cumbersome procedures and long cycles, requiring a long time for coordination.
Adapt to local conditions, explore differentiated implementation paths
China’s inland rivers cover multiple water systems including the Yangtze River, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the Xijiang River, each with different resource endowments and shipping characteristics. Various regions are also exploring differentiated new energy transition routes based on their own conditions, while simultaneously promoting the construction of supporting services. Wei Yingchun stated that currently, China’s “dual carbon” strategic policy is gradually becoming clear. In terms of fuel pathways, the tendency is to take methanol and batteries as the dominant new energy sources, support the independent development of LNG, and develop according to local conditions in different regions.
Yangtze River Basin: LNG first, methanol takes over, bunkering facilities accelerate implementation
The Yangtze River is the core trunk line of China’s inland river shipping, with long shipping mileage and many large-tonnage river-sea direct vessels. It has now formed a transition pattern of “accumulating experience with LNG, methanol becoming the main direction”. After years of development, over a hundred LNG dual-fuel vessels have been operating in the Yangtze River basin, accumulating mature operational experience; in recent years, the advantages of methanol have gradually become prominent. Wuhan Innovation Jianghai has built six 15,000-ton methanol-fueled river-sea direct vessels, and construction of subsequent new 22,500-ton vessel types has also started, expected to be put into the market by the end of 2027. Yuan Hou’an predicts that methanol will become the mainstream choice within five to ten years.
In terms of supporting services, China Marine Bunker has built the country’s first carbon-neutral waterborne green comprehensive service area in Jiangyin, Jiangsu, and is accelerating the approval process to promote the construction of the first methanol bunkering service point in the Yangtze River basin, hoping to fill the core gap in methanol supply as soon as possible. Since November 2024, China Marine Bunker Jiangsu Company has conducted methanol bunkering 24 times, with a total volume of 6,800 tons. It has also independently developed 4 mobile methanol bunkering skids and led the formulation of the group standard “Safety Regulations for Marine Methanol Fuel Tank Truck Bunkering Operations”, providing safe operating specifications for the industry.
Jining Section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal: Complete LNG industry chain supporting, innovative tank swapping model breaks bottlenecks
The Jining section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal mainly transports standardized dry bulk cargo vessels. Relying on China’s natural gas production capacity advantages, LNG has become its most mature new energy route. The local area has built a full industry chain service system of “shipyard construction + port bunkering + policy support”. Currently, nearly 100 LNG-powered vessels operate regularly in the Jining section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, all of which are standardized ship types, with the main ship types being 5,000-ton and 2,500-ton classes. The local port and shipping group has introduced support policies such as “priority cargo reception, priority berthing, and completion of bunkering within two hours”, significantly improving shipowners’ operational income.
To solve the approval problem for bunkering stations, CIMC New Energy innovatively launched the LNG fuel tank swapping recharging model. Compared to traditional bunkering, this can compress recharging time from 2-3 hours to 30 minutes, and also allows vessels to complete recharging during loading and unloading, reducing the cost loss of detouring for bunkering. Currently, there are orders for over 100 LNG vessels using the tank swapping model nationwide. The local area has built three LNG bunkering stations of pontoon, shore-based, and tank truck types, which can ensure regular bunkering for over 600 vessels. Through a vessel networking system, full operational status monitoring is achieved, enabling timely response to service needs of vessels nationwide.
Xijiang River Basin: LNG takes the lead in deployment, reserving space for diversified transition
As the core waterway of Southwest China, the Xijiang River shipping developed early and has now formed a layout of “LNG pilot first, reserving diversified space”. As early as 2014, Guangxi Xijiang Development & Investment Group (Xijiang Group) built the first waterborne pontoon-type LNG bunkering station in the Xijiang River basin, pioneering green energy supply for the Xijiang River. Currently, the Wuzhou ship lock has implemented a policy of priority lock passage for green vessels; relying on an intelligent dispatch system to ensure the transit efficiency of LNG vessels, in 2025, the number of LNG vessel lockages in the Xijiang River joint dispatch basin green locks increased by over 50% year-on-year, and the actual cargo tonnage increased by over 60%.
In coordination with the construction of the Pinglu Canal, the Xijiang Group has deployed an LNG bunkering point in Hengzhou, Nanning, and has also reserved space in the plan for the construction of new energy bunkering facilities such as hydrogen, electricity, and methanol in advance, making full preparations for subsequent diversified transitions to adapt to the development needs of different energy technologies in the future.
Whole industry collaboration to build a sustainable ecosystem
In response to the regulatory and supporting facility pain points reported by the industry, the policy level is already accelerating its response, promoting the accelerated improvement of the standard and specification system for the new energy transition of inland rivers.
According to Li Kun, Director of the Ship Center Specialist Committee of the Water Transport Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, from the perspective of regulations and technical specifications, the specifications for various new energy types on the shipbuilding side are now basically complete. All new energy sources, including nuclear energy, have been included in the “Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of the Green Intelligent Ship Technical Specification System (2026-2030)” issued by the China Maritime Safety Administration.
Currently, regulations for infrastructure supporting are relatively lagging, but Li Kun made it clear that for new energy-related standards and specifications, the previous lengthy research and compilation cycle will be changed, and they will be issued quickly in response to industry needs. Core specifications can be issued within half a year to a year, and will be dynamically supplemented and improved based on practical situations subsequently.
The current focus of policy improvement is shifting to infrastructure and supporting links: specifications for methanol bunkering ships, construction specifications for bunkering terminals, safety standards for waterborne operations, etc., have all been put on the agenda. The China Maritime Safety Administration has issued safety guidelines for methanol waterborne bunkering operations, and relevant standards are being accelerated. For the high-quality development of inland river shipping, the “Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Inland River Shipping” issued by six ministries (Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Water Resources) has clearly identified accelerating the green and low-carbon transition of shipping as a core task, proposing to accelerate the construction of water system connectivity projects. Future demand for inland river shipping will further increase, which will also bring greater market space for new energy development.
The industry generally believes that the green transition of inland river shipping is a long-term systematic project requiring collaborative efforts across the entire industry chain.
From shipping enterprises choosing suitable technical routes, to energy enterprises accelerating the construction of supporting bunkering networks, and to the policy level accelerating the improvement of standards and specifications, if multiple parties join forces to form a cohesive force, they can jointly build a sustainable commercial ecosystem for inland river new energy applications and forge a green transition path that suits the characteristics of China’s inland rivers.
