Danish shipping giant Maersk has ordered eight new vessels, each with a capacity of 16,000 containers, that run on carbon-neutral methanol in a push to decarbonise its fleet and meet increasing consumer demand for greener transportation.
Photo: Maersk
Photo: Maersk
The company has pledged to only order new vessels capable of running on carbon-neutral fuel as part of its goal to achieve net-zero by 2050. Most vessels have a lifetime of 20-35 years meaning that they must have a carbon-neutral fleet by the end of this decade to achieve this.
Maersk is expecting to receive the eight vessels, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, in early 2024, with an option to order another four in 2025.
Read more: A green future: How can the maritime sector work towards sustainability?
The move makes the shipping group - the largest in the world - the first to place a large order of carbon-neutral vessels capable of making the journey from China to Europe and across the Pacific Ocean.
Each vessel comes with a price tag of around $175 million (€149 million), which is about 10-15% more expensive than a traditional ship.
Also, carbon-neutral methanol presently costs almost double that of bunker fuel, though Maersk has said that more than half of its 200 largest customers, including Disney, Amazon and Microsoft, themselves in the process of cutting supply chain emissions, would be willing to pay for greener transport.
The company ordered a small carbon-neutral feeder vessel in February.
In a statement, Maersk CEO Soren Skou said: "This order proves that carbon-neutral solutions are available today across container vessel segments and that Maersk stands committed to the growing number of our customers who look to decarbonise their supply chains."
Around 90% of global trade is transported by sea and the global shipping sector accounts for almost 3% of the world's CO2 emissions.
Read more: Maersk signs contract for world's first container vessel fuelled by carbon-neutral methanol
The new vessels are to be fitted with engines that can run on green methanol - produced by using renewable sources like biomass and solar energy, as well as traditional bunker fuel, as the availability of carbon-neutral fuel has still yet to reach demand.
However, some critics have argued that using green methanol make little sense as the CO2 is first absorbed during production, and emitted again when burnt, instead of sequestering the greenhouse gas.
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