7 December 2023 (Lloyd's List) - MAERSK will launch the first of its 18 large methanol containerships on February 9, the Danish box giant said.

The 16,000 teu vessel, set to be named at the end of January, will work the AE7 Asia-Europe trade, with Ningbo, China its first port of call.

Maersk said it has “secured sufficient green methanol to cover the vessel’s maiden voyage and continues to work diligently on 2024-25 sourcing solutions for its methanol-enabled vessel fleet”.

Built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, the ship’s dual-fuel engine can run on methanol, biodiesel and traditional bunker fuel.

Maersk will launch its two sister vessels in the first half of 2024 after their naming events at Yokohama, Japan and Los Angeles, USA. Four more sister vessels are expected in the second half of 2024.

Maersk has 24 vessels on order. Of these, 12 will be 16,000 teu of the other vessels will have a capacity of 17,000 teu, while the remaining six have a capacity of 9,000 teu.

Once it launches, the vessel will be the second container vessel in the world that can sail on green methanol, Maersk said.

The first ship running on green methanol is the feeder vessel Laura Maersk (IMO: 9944546), which began sailing in September.

“With the vessel’s capacity of 16,000 containers, this will make a significant impact in our customers’ efforts to decarbonise their supply chains, and we are looking forward to introducing more methanol-enabled vessels on this and other trades during 2024,” said Maersk chief commercial officer Karsten Kildahl.

Maersk’s AE7 string port calls are Ningbo, Shanghai, Nansha, Yantian (all China), Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Tanger Med (Morocco), Felixstowe (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), London Gateway (UK), Le Havre (France), Tanger Med, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Jebel Ali (UAE).