1 February 2023 (Lloyd's List) - CMA CGM is understood to be the shipowner behind a new shipbuilding contract for 12 methanol-fuelled boxships, accelerating a growing trend from larger owners willing to send a strong demand signal to methanol suppliers to ramp up supply. The Won2.53trn ($2.05bn) order was confirmed by a Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering stock exchange filing on Wednesday, albeit without confirming the identity of the shipowner and vessel capacity. According to industry sources contacted by Lloyd’s List, the newbuildings have been contracted by CMA CGM and are being constructed to a neo-panamax specification with capacities of 13,000 teu each. CMA CGM has declined to comment. The vessels will be constructed at its Hyundai Samho shipbuilding facility in stages and the delivery of the last ship is scheduled to hit the water by December 2026. CMA CGM placed its first methanol boxship orders last year at Chinese shipbuilder Dalian Shipbuilding, comprising six 15,000 teu ships, with options for a further six vessels attached to the contract. Maersk was the first mover in methanol-fuelled containerships after it ordered a single 2,100 teu vessel in June 2021 from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. Since then a further total of 58 methanol-fuel containerships have been ordered by Maersk, CMA CGM, Cosco and X-Press Container Line. As orders for methanol-capable, and methanol-ready, vessels are on the increase questions remain about how the burgeoning fleet of ships capable of operating on this alternative fuel will be supplied. CMA CGM is likely to have already looked in to direct supply agreements with green methanol producers to ensure competitive pricing and to secure a long-term future supply. The growing orderbook for methanol-fuelled vessels should send the right demand signals to the bunkering industry to ramp up supply over the next two years, while converting existing bunkering infrastructure to supply methanol is relatively simple. As such it seems likely that supply will pick up as demand grows. Nevertheless, the availability of green methanol, as opposed to grey methanol which has a large carbon footprint, at present is unclear. In order to hit long-term decarbonisation targets, grey methanol will not do the job. When Cargill placed the first order for methanol-fuelled bulk carrier in December, they did so without securing a firm methanol supplier. Two months on Cargill Ocean Transportation president Jan Dieleman says that negotiations with multiple suppliers are well underway and there is an increasing tone of positivity from an initially sceptical market when it comes to scaling methanol operations. Methanol was the second-most popular alternative fuel choice for newbuildings ordered in 2022 after liquefied natural gas, according to class society DNV’s monthly analysis of alternative fuels. LNG comprised 9.7% of ships on order and methanol 1.1%. Thirty-five dual-fuelled methanol ships were ordered, including 30 for large container vessels, bringing the total vessel count to 82, DNV said.