This order may become the vane of the ship market

On August 24th, South Korea Shipbuilding & Marine, the secondary holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s shipbuilding business, and Maersk Group signed a construction contract for 8+4 16000 TEU-class methanol dual-fuel-powered ultra-large container ships, with a total contract value of 16,474 Billion won (approximately US$1.41 billion), which is equivalent to a cost of US$176 million per vessel, and the total cost will reach US$2.112 billion.

According to reports, the ship is the world’s first large-scale ship equipped with a methanol fuel-powered engine. It will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard, and will be classified into the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the Danish Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and the Danish Bureau of Shipping. Company (ABS), the first large-scale ship powered by methanol fuel.

Compared with the existing marine fuel oil, using methanol as power can reduce sulfur oxide emissions by 99%, nitrogen oxide emissions by 80%, and carbon dioxide emissions by 25%. Therefore, it is considered to be a substitute for LNG. Environmentally friendly marine fuel.

The ship is designed with flexible operation configuration, can launch multiple routes, operate efficiently, and can increase flexibility according to customer needs. The marine propulsion unit will be developed in cooperation with manufacturers including German marine engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions, Hyundai Heavy Industries Engine Machinery Division (HI-EMD) and Alfa Laval (Alfa Laval), which also marks This technology has been extended from its previous application in 2000 TEU feeder ships to large ships.

This new type of ship can be operated in carbon neutral, or use traditional low-sulfur fuels. The additional capital expenditure required for dual fuel configuration is about 10-15% of the ship's price. Large-scale carbon neutral alcohol container ships will enable Maersk to make significant progress in expanding its commitment to carbon neutral solutions and lead the decarbonization process of the container logistics industry.

He said that the technical difficulties of methanol-powered ships have been solved, so the company will leapfrog the stage of adopting LNG fuel and directly replace fossil fuels with zero-emission fuels instead of using LNG as a transition fuel.

According to reports, the order for this new ship is part of Maersk's ongoing replacement plan. The Maersk fleet with 150,000 TEU ships is expected to be replaced between 2020 and the first quarter of 2024, which is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1 million tons per year. The ship is the first in the industry, and it will provide Maersk's customers with truly large-scale carbon-neutral ocean transportation solutions. Worldwide, more than half of more than 200 major Maersk customers have set major scientific emission reduction or zero-carbon targets for their supply chains. Maersk is a leader in the field of sustainable development-including Amazon, Disney, H&M, HP, Levi’s, Microsoft, Novo Nordisk, Procter & Gamble, Puma, Schneider Electric, Yanuofei, Syngenta, Unilever and other customers It has been cooperating in the decarbonization of the supply chain and expanding the use of zero-carbon ocean shipping solutions.