Following the announcement of six strategic green methanol partnerships earlier this year, A.P. Moller – Maersk has added a seventh with Chinese bioenergy enterprise Debo.
The parties have signed a Letter of Intent covering Debo’s plans to develop a bio-methanol project for Maersk in China with capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year to start commercial operation by fall 2024. The feedstock for the green bio-methanol will be agricultural residues. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.
In the first quarter of 2024, Maersk is expected to introduce the first in a series of eight 16,000TEU container vessels capable of being operated on carbon neutral methanol. The vessels will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The agreement with HHI includes an option for four additional vessels in 2025.
Additional CAPEX for the dual fuel capability, which enables operation on methanol as well as conventional low sulphur fuel, will be in the range of 10-15% of the total price. The series will replace older vessels, generating annual CO2 emissions savings of around one million tonnes.
Many of Maersk’s 200 largest customers have set ambitious science-based or zero carbon targets for their supply chains. Amazon, Disney, H&M Group, HP Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Microsoft, Novo Nordisk, The Procter and Gamble Company, PUMA, Schneider Electric, Signify, Syngenta and Unilever have committed to actively use and scale zero carbon solutions for their ocean transport.
In March, Maersk announced six partnerships with CIMC ENRIC in China, European Energy in North and South America, Green Technology Bank in China, Orsted in North America, Proman in North America, and WasteFuel in South America, with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 /year by end of 2025 – well beyond the green methanol needed for the first 12 green container vessels currently on order.
“Maersk has set an ambitious end-to-end net-zero goal for 2040 and the availability of green methanol at scale is critical to our fleet’s transition to sustainable energy. Partnerships across ecosystems and geographies are essential for the scale-up needed in order to make meaningful progress on this agenda already in this decade,” said Berit Hinnemann, Head of Green Fuels Sourcing, A.P. Moller – Maersk.
Production partners
CIMC is a large, industrial conglomerate that has been a partner of Maersk for more than two decades. Its energy division, CIMC ENRIC, will develop bio-methanol projects for Maersk in China. The phase one project will have a capacity to produce 50,000 /year of green methanol, starting in 2024. The second phase of the project will have a capacity produce of 200,000 /year with start date to be determined. The feedstock for the bio-methanol will be agricultural residues. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.
European Energy is a global renewable energy company with a pipeline of 20GW renewable energy capacity. European Energy will produce e-methanol for Maersk´s first green feeder vessel, which is expected to be on the water by 2023. It will also develop e-methanol projects in Latin America and the US that will have a capacity to produce up to 200-300,000 tonnes annually of e-methanol starting in /2026. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.
Green Technology Bank was established in 2016 by the Chinese government with the priority task to fulfill the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Green Technology Bank will facilitate development of bio-methanol projects in China. The first project is planned to have a capacity to produce 50,000 /year starting from 2024, and the second project is planned to have a capacity to produce 300,000 /year at a start date to be determined.
Orsted is a global renewable energy company that aims at becoming a global leader within Power-to-X and currently has a development pipeline of 11 projects across several hard-to-abate sectors. Partnering with Maersk, Orsted will develop an e-methanol project in the US that will have a capacity to produce 300,000 /year starting 2025. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.
Proman is the world’s second largest methanol producer. Proman will aim to supply Maersk with 100,000 – 150,000 /year of green methanol from its in-development facility in North America. The project will be built by Proman with target start of operations in 2025, producing bio-methanol from non-recyclable forestry residues and municipal solid waste.
WasteFuel is a California-based start-up addressing the climate emergency by transforming unrecovered waste into sustainable fuels using proven technologies. WasteFuel is developing a bio-methanol project in South America that will produce over 30,000 tons per year starting in 2024. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.
