Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk has named renewable energy company European Energy and its subsidiary REintegrate as the partners it will work with to produce the green methanol to fuel its first carbon-neutral boxship.
The container shipping giant said REintegrate and European Energy will set up a new facility in Denmark to produce around 10,000 tonnes of carbon-neutral e-methanol, which the feedership will consume annually.
The methanol facility will use renewable energy provided by a solar farm in Kasso in the south of the country and biogenic CO2 to produce the e-methanol.
Maersk detailed that while the renewable energy will be produced in Southern Jutland it is yet to be decided where in Denmark the power-to-methanol facility will be located.
Feedership fuel
The fuel production is expected to start in 2023, which dovetails with the planned delivery of the first methanol-fuelled feedership newbuilding ordered by Maersk.
This 2,100-teu vessel, which delivers in mid-2023, is under construction at South Korea's Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, where the company is understood to hold a number of optional berths.
Maersk said it will sail in the network of its subsidiary Sealand Europe on the Baltic shipping route between northern Europe and the Bay of Bothnia.
The Danish shipowner said it will work closely with REintegrate and European Energy on the development of the facility.
To date, REintegrate has produced green e-methanol in its test laboratory in Aalborg.
The company is also constructing an e-methanol facility in Skive with start-up in 2022
Blueprint
Maersk chief executive of fleet and strategic brands Henriette Hallberg Thygesen said: “This type of partnership could become a blueprint for how to scale green fuel production through collaboration with partners across the industry ecosystem.
She said it will provide the company with “valuable experiences” as it moves to decarbonise its customers’ supply chains.
“Sourcing the fuels of the future is a significant challenge, and we need to be able to scale production in time,” the CEO added.
“This agreement with European Energy/REintegrate brings us on track to deliver on our ambition to have the world’s first container vessel operated on carbon-neutral methanol on the water by 2023.”
European Energy chief executive Knud Erik Andersen said his company is “proud” to be a part of the first large scale e-methanol production in Denmark.
“While renewable energy is becoming more and more common in the energy mix of electricity consumption, this is one of the first steps in heavy transportation towards using 100% renewable energy.
This agreement marks a milestone in the journey towards green transition in the shipping industry,” Andersen said.
