The liner shipping company Maersk wants to deploy its large methanol newbuildings in the Far East service in future. This means they will also be coming to Hamburg in future.
The Danes have ordered a total of 18 methanol-capable ships from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Korea. The first newbuild will be delivered shortly. From February 9, it will then sail between Asia and Europe on the AE7 service. In Northern Europe, Hamburg will be one of the ports of call. [ds_preview]
Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea, the container ship has a nominal capacity of 16,000 TEU and is equipped with a dual-fuel engine that allows it to run on methanol, biodiesel and conventional bunker fuel.
Maersk aims to operate emission-free from 2040
According to its own statements, Maersk wants to produce no more greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. To achieve this goal, the No. 2 in international container liner shipping is relying on alternative fuels for the ships it orders. The company has secured sufficient “green” methanol for the ship’s maiden voyage and is working on securing the supply of the entire fleet in the long term, it says. The first supply contracts have already been concluded.
“The deployment of the first of our large methanol-capable ships is a milestone on the way to our net-zero target. We look forward to bringing more methanol-capable vessels into service for this and other routes during 2024,” says Karsten Kildahl, CCO at Maersk.
Prior to its deployment, the ship will be christened at the shipyard at the end of January 2024. The two following sister ships will arrive in the first half of 2024, with the christening taking place in Yokohama (Japan) and Los Angeles (USA). Maersk expects the delivery of four more sister ships in the second half of 2024.
24 ships under construction for Maersk
Maersk currently has 24 container ships in its order book, all of which will be equipped with dual-fuel engines and will be able to run on methanol in future: These are 12 units of 16,000 TEU each, 6 ships of 17,000 TEU and a further six freighters of 9,000 TEU each.
The Far East service AE7-Linie connects Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal with calls in Ningbo, Shanghai, Nansha, Yantian (all China), Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Port Tangiers (Morocco), Felixstowe (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), London Gateway (UK), Le Havre (France), Port Tangiers, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Jebel Ali (UAE).
