Ane Maersk powers up with green methanol in Shanghai

January 6, 2025, by Sara Kosmajac

Shanghai International Port Group’s (SIPG) bunkering ship Hai Gang Zhi Yuan has supplied 3,000 tons of green methanol to Ane Maersk, one of the world’s first boxships powered by this alternative fuel, at Yangshan Port.

Illustration purposes only. Credit: Maersk

As disclosed, this operation—carried out in parallel with container loading and unloading—was carried out on January 1, 2025. According to SIPG, the development is also considered ‘the first’ synchronized ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering operation for a large methanol-powered container vessel at the port in 2025.

Hai Gang Zhi Yuan, owned by Shanghai SIPG Energy Services, a subsidiary of SIPG Group, is considered the Port of Shanghai’s first methanol bunkering ship. Shortly after a conversion process at compatriot Zhoushan Putuo Changhong Shipbuilding, the 16,000 cbm unit embarked on its maiden voyage in January 2024.

China debuts its first methanol bunkering vessel

Vessels

The 350-meter-long 16,000 TEU Ane Maersk—christened also in January 2024 in Ulsan, South Korea—was built by South Korea’s titan HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) and named after Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, the Chair of the A.P. Moller Foundation and A.P. Moller Holding.

The recent bunkering operation in Shanghai comes nearly two years since Danish shipping heavyweight A.P. Moller-Maersk and SIPG shook hands on a methanol marine fuel project, via a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in March 2023.

Back then, the two maritime players banded together to explore green methanol fuel vessel-to-vessel bunkering options upon the delivery of the Danish shipping company’s green methanol containerships that were part of an order placed in 2021.

Ane Maersk finished its first ship-to-ship bunkering at Ulsan Port in February 2024. Just two months later, during its inaugural voyage to the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium, the container vessel wrapped up its first bunker operation in European waters. During the stay, Ane Maersk was supplied with 4,300 tons of green methanol and 1,375 tons of biodiesel (B100). For the port itself, that was said to be its first bunkering of this eco-friendly fuel option involving an ocean-going unit.

Due to its properties—being free of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur, as well as its potential to generate low particulate matter emissions—methanol has been increasingly recognized as a ‘key’ alternative marine fuel in recent years across the globe.

In September 2024, in its white paper “Economic Value of Methanol for Shipping under FuelEU Maritime and EU ETS”, the trade association Methanol Institute argued that e-methanol and bio-methanol, in particular, are looking at a ‘stable’ future, in relation to the stipulations of the two regulations.

According to the Methanol Institute, the cap-and-trade system of FuelEU and EU ETS could add a financial layer of incentive for companies to switch from traditional fuels like very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) to cleaner alternatives.

What is more, by 2050, the institute found that combined non-compliance costs of the regulations may skyrocket the cost of using VLSFO and, as a result, make methanol a more cost-effective and ‘sought-after’ option over time.