ZEMBA’s upcoming tender zeroes in on first commercial e-fuels deployment

Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) has set sights on catalyzing the first commercial deployment of e-fuels in the maritime sector through its next tender, set to be launched in January 2025, enabling its members to abate around 470,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

On November 13, ZEMBA announced it would focus exclusively on catalyzing the first commercial deployment of e-fuels through its second tender. The alliance also revealed it had welcomed over ten new members, growing its membership to 40 companies.

The aim is to aggregate at least 80 billion tonne nautical miles of demand for the emissions abatement associated with e-fuel-powered container shipping for deployment starting in 2027, which would equate to 1.4 million twenty-foot containers transported across the Pacific Ocean by e-fuels, assuming a benchmark distance of Shanghai to Los Angeles, the alliance stated.

Through the upcoming tender, ZEMBA is looking for 3-5-year contracts for e-fuel-powered container shipping starting in 2027 and e-fuel bids that achieve at least 90% emission reduction for primary propulsion.

In addition to seeking bids from ocean container carriers or consortiums, ZEMBA said it was open to the possibility of multiple winners.

“ZEMBA is making history by voluntarily catalyzing commercial e-fuel deployment through our next collective tender,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, President and CEO of ZEMBA.

“Our members are demonstrating that freight buyers are willing to make multi-year advanced offtake commitments now to incentivize the creation of new markets for the most scalable solutions, which will be required for them to achieve their 2030 and 2040 climate goals. By creating economies of scale and targeting investment in the right long-term solutions, our members can also accelerate the pace and manage overall costs of this clean energy transition.”

The focus of the upcoming tender builds on the experience gained during ZEMBA’s inaugural tender that introduced a new very low-emission fuel alternative to freight buyers in the maritime sector – liquified biomethane from waste.

To remind, ZEMBA’s first tender was completed in April 2024 with Germany’s container shipping major Hapag-Lloyd as the winner. The winner is expected to support the alliance members to collectively abate at least 82,000 metric tonnes of GHGs in 2025 and 2026.

The alliance added that the design of the second tender was also grounded in the goals and aspirations of ZEMBA member companies and insights gained from a request for information (RFI) conducted earlier this year in collaboration with the Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub.