Maersk Enters Strategic Partnerships for Green Methanol
With this capacity, the Danish group said it will “reach well beyond” the methanol needed for the first 12 green container vessels currently on order. It added that green methanol is currently the only market-ready and scalable solution that is available for shipping and production must be increased through collaboration. “That is why these partnerships mark an important milestone to get the transition to green energy underway,” said Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of fleet & strategic brands at Maersk.
Maersk’s timetable for the projects envisions a total of 130,000 t/y of green methanol online by the end of 2024, an additional 600-700,000 t/y by the end of 2025, plus another 500,000 t/y added after 2025.
In China, CIMC Enric’s proposal is for a first phase of 50,000 t/y biomethanol starting up in 2024, with a second phase of 200,000 t/y to start production at a date to be determined.
GTB’s projects in China will be undertaken with other developers that have yet to be selected. The first project is planned to produce 50,000 t/y biomethanol starting from 2024, with a second project producing 300,000 t/y at a start date yet to be determined.
In the US, Orsted will develop an e-methanol project with capacity of 300,000 t/y. Startup is planned for 2025. E-methanol is produced by combining green hydrogen and captured CO2 from industrial sources.
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(c) twitter.com/Maersk
In addition, Proman, which is expanding capacity in North America, aims to supply Maersk with 100-150,000 t/y of biomethanol once its project goes online in 2025.
European Energy will also produce e-methanol for Maersk’s first green feeder vessel, which is expected to go into operation by 2023. The two firms will also develop e-methanol projects in Latin America and the US that will be able to produce up to 200-300,000 t/y starting in 2025-2026.
In South America, WasteFuel is developing a bio-methanol project that will produce more than 30,000 t/y from 2024. Last September, Maersk announced that it had invested an undisclosed sum in WasteFuel.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
