25 November 2022 (Lloyd's List) - THE uptake of dual-fuel technologies in newbuilding orders has increased significantly this year, according to data from China’s shipbuilding association. The move signals increased efforts by the shipping industry to meet the pressing need for decarbonising the sector. Almost half of the fresh tonnage, in capacity terms, won by Chinese yards for the first 10 months of the year is equipped with dual-fuel propulsion systems and labelled by Cansi as greener ships. That compares with 24.4% for the whole of last year and 18.5% in 2020, Cansi statistics show. On a global level, the figure for January to October this year stood at 56%, compared with 30% for the previous year. The proportional rise in Chinese dual-fuel orders is set against the backdrop that South Korean shipbuilders remain the world’s largest player in the construction of vessels that can burn non-conventional fuels. “New orders powered by dual-fuel engines are now not just limited in high-value ships such as gas carriers and ferries,” said Cansi. “[The solution] has also extended to traditional vessel sectors of containerships, oil tankers and dry bulkers.” Orders for methanol-fuelled ships are picking up pace, it added. Two Chinese yards — Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineeringand Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering— have recently been contracted by Cosco Shipping Holdings to build 12 methanol dual-fuel containerships. Maersk and CMA CGMhave also placed a series of similar ships albeit smaller in size in South Korea and China, respectively, earlier this year. Overall, 61 ships that can run on the fuel has been ordered from January to October this year, while another 57 are equipped with the so-called methanol-ready design enabling an easier conversion in future, according to Cansi. That said, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas remain the dominant alternative fuels, accounting for 904 of the new ships ordered. A surged appetite of owners and charterers for large dual-fuel LNG carriers triggered by a booming freight market has also helped lift the “greener ship” figures. In China, in addition to the established builder Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, three newcomers — Jiangnan Shipyard, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Coand Yangzijiang Shipbuilding— have also joined the sector, pushing the total orders for this type of modern gas tankers won this year to more than 40 units. That, however, is still less than half of the amount won by their South Korean competitors.