The decarbonization of the container ship fleet is proceeding at a very rapid pace, as “green” containerships (ships consuming alternative fuels or equipped with scrubbers) have “overtaken” conventional ones.
According to data from Alphaliner, ships utilizing LNG, methanol, or equipped with scrubbers now represent 50.6% of the total transport capacity of the global containership fleet (in TEU terms). Specifically, LNG-fueled ships account for 7.6% (2.46 million TEUs), methanol-fueled ships represent 1.3% (0.4 million TEUs), while ships equipped with scrubbers occupy 41.8% (13.6 million TEUs). In contrast, conventional containerships represent 49.4% of the global fleet, with a total transport capacity of approximately 16.1 million TEUs.
However, conventional containerships still lead in terms of the number of ships. Specifically, with 4,850 ships, they represent 73.6% of the global fleet. On the other hand, LNG-fueled ships occupy 3.2% (208 ships), methanol-fueled ships 0.6% (38 ships), while ships equipped with scrubbers account for 22.6% (1,492 ships).
Of course, as Alphaliner underlines, the fleet of “green” containerships is expected to expand significantly in the immediate future. The existing orderbook includes more than 720 alternatively propelled containerships (75% of all containership orders), with a total capacity of over 9.3 million TEUs (93% of the total ordered transport capacity).
