Veteran shipowner Peter Georgiopoulos is the latest major name to be linked to a foray into the green-energy market via investment in a proposed methanol production plant in the US Gulf.
TradeWinds has learned that Georgiopoulos and his business partner, Leo Vrondissis, sit on the board of directors of Houston-based IGP Methanol. They are also the largest investors in the project, which is in its early stages.
If it comes to fruition, the complex would be the world’s largest methanol production plant, and the Georgiopoulos-Vrondissis team would provide shipping transport services.
Word of the endeavour comes weeks after the partners announced they had agreed to acquire Dubai's United Arab Chemical Carriers and its 22-vessel fleet.
However, TradeWinds understands the two investments are not connected.
Vrondissis said the partners first became involved with IGP and its proposed facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, around 2018.
They had previously investigated another methanol production opportunity in Washington state, where Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines was working with Northwest Innovation Works on a proposed plant at the port of Kalama.
The state Department of Ecology this month denied a shoreline permit for that proposed $2bn project, dealing the campaign a major setback. Sponsors have been working on the plan since 2014.
As for the IGP Methanol project, Vrondissis stressed in an interview with TradeWinds that it was still early days.
“Peter and I invested in the early stages of the project, recognising the demand growth for methanol, particularly out of China. The company is in the process of developing off-take agreements and securing project financing,” Vrondissis said.
Georgiopoulos, who has led five US public companies over his 30-year shipping career, is one of a growing number of big shipping names to explore the green or renewable energy markets.
He is best known as an owner of crude tankers through his General Maritime, which later became Gener8 Maritime.
Scorpio Group’s Emanuele Lauro is pushing a transition from bulkers into wind turbine installation vessels.
Arne Blystad and Fred Olsen are also playing in that market, as is the BW Group through its backing of Oslo-listed Cadeler.
Likewise, the Saverys family of Belgium have been leading advocates of decarbonisation through exploration of hydrogen and other alternative fuels.
Vrondissis told TradeWinds such moves are inevitable.
“You need to evolve if you’re in shipping and you’re looking at trends for the future,” he said.
“Unless you want to put your head in the sand, you have to see that this is the way the world is heading.”
He described environment, social and governance-focused investment as the “wave of the future”, adding: “There are opportunities where you can both effectuate change and make some money.”
IGB’s proposed Gulf Coast Methanol Park will consist of four identical plants, each producing 1.8m tonnes per year. The combined 7.2m tonnes would make it the world’s largest permitted methanol plant, the company claimed.
The aim is to provide feedstock for users in China as a cleaner alternative to coal in industrial boilers.
China Cosco Shipping and Jinguotou signed contracts in 2018 to help construct two of the plants, according to IGB’s public announcements.
Methanol is used for producing materials, including olefins, the primary components in medical devices, such as masks, gowns and gloves, recreational equipment, clothing, mobile phones and furniture.
“We believe methanol will be a transformative fuel in ocean freight as well, reducing emissions by 95% as opposed to bunker fuel,” IGB managing director James Lamoureaux said in 2018.
“In addition, methanol is also the only liquid carrier for hydrogen fuel cells, greatly reducing the costs and complexity of delivering and storing hydrogen for the hydrogen economy.”
The proposed Northwest Innovation Works plant in Washington is slated to have a capacity of 3.6m tonnes per day — half that of the IGP facility. Experts have told TradeWinds that output would be serviced by six 50,000-dwt tankers based on 12 days' sailing to Japan.
