AP Moller-Maersk is scouring shipyards for a fresh batch of methanol dual-fuel newbuildings as it battles for berth space at over-stuffed yards.
Brokers said Maersk is out in the market with a new project for between 10 and 15 boxships of around 3,500 teu.
The Danish giant, which traditionally does not comment on its commercial newbuilding activities at the enquiry and negotiation stages, is believed to have specified methanol dual-fuelling for the vessels.
Newbuilding sources told TradeWinds that Maersk has approached several Chinese shipyards with its new requirement.
They named Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CSSC Huangpu Wenchong and Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard. But they said the orderbooks at these facilities are now quite packed, and Maersk has also searched a little wider for these next-up vessels.
It is understood to have been looking at Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering Co in Jiangsu province.
One broker said Taizhou Sanfu should be able to build 3,500-teu boxships — the yard lists a 2,400-teu container ship among its products — but questioned whether it had tackled a dual-fuel newbuilding previously.
Maersk has been ticking down the size ranges on its container ship orders but, for now, is holding to its choice of methanol fuelling for these next newbuildings.
The shipowner kicked off its methanol moves in 2021 and now has 24 methanol vessels on order for delivery between 2024 and 2027, and a policy to order only ships that come with a green fuel option.
Maersk confirmed its expected order for six firm 8,000-teu methanol dual-fuel vessels at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in June.
Brokers pointed out that this business might have been expected to go to Hyundai Heavy Industries, which had been leading the charge on Maersk’s methanol-fuelled container ships. Maersk booked its pioneering feeder ship at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in 2021, followed by 18 vessels of 16,000 teu at HHI.
There is interest in how aggressive HMD will prove when competing with the Chinese yards for these 3,500-teu ships.
Maersk, which named its first methanol dual-fuel feeder ship — the 2,100-teu newbuilding Laura Maersk — in a high-profile ceremony last month and has committed to its first methanol fuelling retrofit on a 14,000-teu vessel, claims to be “fuel agnostic”.
So far, it has led the charge on methanol fuelling as a way to decarbonise, despite questions about the likely availability and pricing of green methanol and the emissions of the grey methanol the company may need to use in the interim.
DNV reported this week that it has 216 methanol-fuelled ships in its database. Of these, 188 are on-order vessels, with 150 being for container ships.
Newbuilding brokers report a continuing, albeit slower, flow of container ship enquiry.
One said the bulk of recent orders have gone to Chinese yards, but said these are now filling up their delivery positions through into 2027 for large vessels.
