A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) announced that it has ordered six more large ocean-going vessels that can sail on green methanol.

The six vessels will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and have a nominal capacity of approx. 17,000 containers (Twenty Foot Equivalent - TEU) which will replace the existing capacity in the Maersk fleet.

"Our customers are looking to us to decarbonise their supply chains, and these six vessels able to operate on green methanol will further accelerate the efforts to offer our customers climate-neutral transport," said Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Fleet & Strategic Brands at Maersk, adding that global action is needed in order to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to a 1.5°C temperature rise.

Maersk has set a net-zero emissions target for 2040 across the entire business and has also set tangible near-term targets for 2030 to ensure significant progress.

This includes a 50% reduction in emissions per transported container in the Maersk Ocean fleet compared to 2020 and a principle of only ordering newbuilt vessels that can be operated on green fuels.

So far, Maersk has placed an order for 19 vessels with dual-fuel engines able to operate on green methanol.

Palle Laursen, chief fleet & technical officer at Maersk, noted that green methanol is the "best scalable green fuel solution" for this decade.

"We are excited to see several other shipowners choosing this path. It adds further momentum to the rapid scaling of availability needed to bring down the premium on green methanol and accelerate the evolution of climate-neutral shipping," Laursen said.

Benchmarked against conventional fuel capabilities, additional capital expenditure (CAPEX) for the methanol dual-fuel capability is in the range of 8-12%, which is an improvement compared to when Maersk ordered eight vessels with the same technology last year.

Maersk's fleet renewal program

Maersk said the six 17,000 TEU vessels are all to be delivered in 2025 and will sail under the flag of Denmark.

They all come as part of Maersk's ongoing fleet renewal program and their capacity will replace an equal amount of capacity reaching end-of-life and leaving the Maersk-managed fleet.

"When all 19 vessels on order are deployed and have replaced older vessels, they will generate annual CO2 emissions savings of around 2.3 million tonnes," Maersk said.

It added that its strategy of maintaining a fleet capacity at a maximum of 4.3 million TEU, as a combination of Maersk managed and time-chartered vessels.

The six 17,000 vessels running on green methanol will save about 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.