Cosco Shipping, the world’s largest shipowner, is taking the lead in a Chinese project to develop a green methanol fuel industrial supply chain.
The state-owned giant has teamed up with State Power Investment Corp Limited, Shanghai International Port Group and China Certification & Inspection Group for the initiative.
Under a memorandum of cooperation just signed, the initiative will look at the production, transportation, refuelling and certification of green methanol for ships.
Cosco Shipping claims that this represents a “significant step towards the application of new energy and the green transformation of the shipping industry”.
The shipowner said the adoption of green methanol fuel was a “crucial step for the shipping industry to achieve environmental sustainability”.
Cosco Shipping has recently placed an order for 12 methanol dual-fuel container ships, each with capacity of 24,000 teu, making them among the largest in the world.
Clarksons recently reported that methanol-capable ships account for 36% of alternative fuel tonnage contracted in year to date, up from 11% in 2022. The global order for methanol-powered ships has exceeded 200 vessels.
“Establishing a green methanol industrial chain is not only necessary for shipping companies to align with the new trend of green, low-carbon and intelligent shipping, but also to offer customers sustainable and eco-friendly global supply chain logistics services,” said Cosco Shipping.
“Moreover, it serves as a significant initiative to develop green and low-carbon industries and drive the transformation and advancement of the industry towards high-quality development.”
Cosco Shipping said the companies involved plan to leverage their respective knowledge to ensure the successful development of all key aspects of the green methanol industrial chain, and one that meets both domestic and foreign green certification standards.
This industrial chain should operate steadily, and smoothly, and have sustainable development capabilities. Additionally, the parties aim to drive the implementation of the first batch of green methanol production projects in China.
Cosco Shipping said the partners plan to use the construction of this green methanol industry chain as a starting point to prospectively explore and apply other green fuels for shipping, with an aim to deepen their cooperative relations, expand the scope of cooperation and establish a model of green industry collaboration.
Shanghai-headquartered Cosco Shipping has a total fleet of 1,394 vessels with total capacity of 113.8m dwt.
Its container ship fleet capacity is 3m teu, ranking third in the world, while its dry bulk fleet of 437 vessels of 45.1m dwt and its tanker fleet of 228 vessels of 29.2m dwt are both ranked as number one.
