Maersk has taken delivery of the company’s first container vessel capable of operating on methanol. The 2,100 teu vessel, which has yet to be named, was handed over by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Heavy Industries on 10 July.
The vessel is the first container vessel to be fuelled by methanol, and is expected to be the first methanol-powered vessel to be fuelled by green methanol in the world. The vessel features a MAN B&W 6G50ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) type main mover, built by MAN licensee HHI-EMD.
The vessel was originally earmarked for service on the Baltic shipping route between Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea when it was ordered in 2021. As Maersk announced plans to consolidate the Sealand brand into the Maersk brand in April, it is likely that the new vessel will sail under Maersk’s branding.
‘The introduction of this container vessel is a significant step towards realising our commitment to becoming carbon neutral, and it marks the beginning of a new era in shipping, where we together can minimise greenhouse gas emissions and create a greener future,’ states Maersk.
The container vessel is now expected to sail towards Copenhagen, where it will arrive in September. In a measure of the political importance of the introduction of green methanol fuelled shipping, the Danish flagged vessel will be christened and named by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission on 14 September.
