Following two initial charter agreements with the Elbdeich shipping company, two more methanol-capable newbuildings are to follow for Unifeeder.
The first charter agreement was concluded in October last year. Now Shortsea Carrier, which belongs to DP World, has secured two more modern newbuildings. Two options have thus been drawn.
The partners are once again Elbdeich Reederei with one ship and MPC Container Ships (MPCC), the Norwegian stock exchange offshoot of the Hamburg-based MPC Capital Group. The two feeder ships will reportedly each have a capacity of 1,250 TEU and are scheduled for delivery in 2026.
Unifeeder is pursuing ambitious climate targets
The vessels will be equipped with dual-fuel engines that will also be able to burn methanol as fuel in the future. According to Unifeeder, it intends to deploy the feeder ships in Northern Europe. Alongside the methanol-capable newbuilds, the efficiency and carbon footprint of the entire fleet is to be improved through the use of biofuels. The charterer has pledged to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2030, to be carbon neutral by 2040 and to produce no emissions at all from 2050.
“This is another important step for us on the road to greening our fleet and operations,” says Jesper Kristensen, CEO of the Unifeeder Group.
The shortsea carrier belongs to DP World Marine Services with around 150 vessels and an annual transport volume of 5.5 million TEU. At the end of last year, the company announced that its carbon footprint had already been reduced by more than 16% compared to the base year 2019 (2,118 ktCO2e).
