Green Maritime Methanol Project Starts with Nine Ships

The Green Maritime Methanol consortium has selected nine ships for research on the application of renewable methanol as a marine fuel.

New designs, newbuildings as well as existing ships of Boskalis, Van Oord, the Royal Netherlands Navy and Wagenborg Shipping were selected.

The vessel sizes vary in length from between 40-160 meters, with tonnage ranging from 300-23,000 dwt and in installed power from 1-12 MW.

Research for these ships will start with determination of the cost for implementation and use of methanol fuel systems, Green Maritime Methanol said, adding that the results of this research will be compared with low sulphur marine diesel.

Each of the ships has its own specific operational profile, providing a specific insight into the feasibility of methanol for a certain ship type, its sailing route and cruising speed. Not only cargo vessels are being evaluated in this phase, as attention will also be paid to ferries, dredgers and support vessels operating in coastal waters.

For each scenario the most attractive technical, operational and economical configurations will be determined. The parties envision sharing and exchanging knowledge within the consortium with opportunities to further develop methanol as a transport fuel for the maritime sector.

Recently, the consortium welcomed three new entrants, namely the Royal Netherlands Shipowners’ Association (KVNR), Bureau Veritas and Lloyds Register.

The project is supported by TKI Maritiem and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and runs until December 2020.