Enormous amounts of green methanol would be required if container carrier Maersk were to power its entire fleet using green fuel. It is achievable, Maersk states, despite not planning to actually run its entire fleet on green methanol only.
Currently, Maersk has ordered 12 vessels to run on green methanol with the first set to be delivered in 2024. But what would it require to power the Danish container carrier’s whole fleet with green methanol?
Berit Hinnemann, head of Decarbonisation Business Development at Maersk, said during the ’Decarbonizing Shipping’ conference, arranged by ShippinhWatch, Danish Shipping and Danish Maritime, that it would require as much as 20 million tonnes of green methanol per year if the entire fleet were to run on the fuel.
However, the entire Maersk fleet running on green methanol is rather unlikely at this time.
During her presentation, Hinnemann explained that Maersk is actively pursuing several paths to fuel its fleet, including biodiesel and green ammonia in addition to the green methanol.
”In terms of fuel consumption, we consume more than 10 million tonnes of fuel oil every year in our fleet, which has more than 700 container vessels. So, this is something that we need to transition and that also illustrates the magnitude of the problem,” Hinnemann said to illustrate the importance of Maersk transitioning towards net-zero and zero-carbon fuels quickly.
Several questions have been floating around the industry since the news of the 12 – initially eight – methanol vessels broke. Will there be enough fuel available and enough green energy to produce said fuel for when the first vessel hits the water, being one of the main ones.
According to Hinnemann, the carrier is working hard on securing the fuel for the vessels.
The numbers show that the first container feeder vessel in 2023 will need about 10,000 tonnes of fuel. Whereas by 2025, an annual production of 500,000 tonnes will be necessary for the vessels.
”So, these are the numbers that we are looking at, and you can see there are significant scaling factors,” Hinnemann said.
Maersk already have letters of intent (LOIs) in place for 2025 of 745,000 tonnes, more than enough to cover what they need by that time for the 12 large vessels.
However, looking ahead to 2030, the number is significantly higher – but still lower than what the entirety of the fleet would require. Hinnemann says that the potential for additional green methanol requirements could be up to six million tonnes in 2030, with only the 745,000 tonnes currently secured through the LOIs for the timeframe.
Current option
The difficult element, which others during the conference also addressed, is that each of the sustainable fuel options that is currently under investigation by various industry entities, such as ammonia, methanol and biofuels, all require a transformation in the supply chain before even making it onto the vessels’ tanks and thus reducing the emissions during operation.
During her presentation, Hinnemann stressed that there is no time for a transitional fuel, however, for this decade she sees only green methanol in combination with biodiesel as the only scalable solution in the time leading up to the readiness of green ammonia or other options.
However, when asked by WPO after her presentation as to whether she believes it will indeed be possible that the 2024 vessel will be able to run solely on green methanol despite being in such a near-future prospect, the decarbonization head said that this is naturally the carrier’s intention and aim, and that is the target they are working towards.
”We are very open about it with the 12 vessels, and we say we will want them on green methanol as fast as we possibly can, which is to say, can we say for sure that it’s from day one? No, because it’s an entirely new industry that we are creating,” Hinnemann said.
A major LOI
Recently, Maersk and Ørsted announced publicly a deal where Ørsted will supply the Maersk fleet with 300,000 tonnes of green methanol.
However, no signature will be seen on any dotted lines for a good while yet, WPO recently reported.
The wait is solely due to the complexity of the project, Chief Operating Officer at Ørsted P2X Anders Nordstrøm told WPO during the conference in Copenhagen.
He says it is mainly because they need to figure out all the details – the nitty-gritty bits – before an actual contract can be signed, legally binding them to deliver, as no green methanol project of this size and hence contract has ever been made before giving the companies no prior formulated contract to base it on.
Maersk, Ørsted will not sign a binding methanol agreement for at least one year
