HomeMarineNewsShipping News

A.P. Moller – Maersk engages in strategic partnerships across the globe to scale green methanol production by 2025

Copenhagen, Denmark To boost the global production capacity of green methanol, A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) enters strategic partnerships with six leading companies with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 tonnes/year by end of 2025 (see breakdown table below).

The six companies are CIMC ENRIC, European Energy, Green Technology Bank, Orsted, Proman, and wasteful.

With this production capacity, by the end of 2025 at the latest, Maersk will reach well beyond the green methanol needed for the first 12 green container vessels currently on order.

Henriette Hallberg Thygesen

To transition towards decarbonisation, we need a significant and timely acceleration in the production of green fuels. Green methanol is the only market-ready and scalable available solution today for shipping. Production must be increased through collaboration across the ecosystem and around the world. That is why these partnerships mark an important milestone to get the transition to green energy underway.

Henriette Hallberg Thygesen
CEO of Fleet & Strategic Brands, A.P. Moller – Maersk

Once fully developed these projects of both bio- and e-methanol will enable Maersk to source green methanol at scale across several regions around the globe (see breakdown table below).

Collaboration and investments in innovative projects are the most important ways to reach a net-zero fuel value chain. Maersk will keep on working with a wide-ranging group of leading companies on these and further projects to accelerate the urgent transition to green energy.

Production Capacity Estimation Table

Strategic Partners Type of fuel Production Capacity in 2024 (end of year) – tonnes/year Production Capacity in 2025 (end of year) – tonnes/year Production capacity added after 2025 – tonnes/year Geography
CIMC ENRIC
bio-methanol
50,000
200,000
China
European Energy
e-methanol
2-300,000
North & South America
GTB
bio-methanol
50,000
300,000
China
Orsted
e-methanol
300,000
North America
Proman
bio & e-methanol
100,000
North America
WasteFuel
bio-methano
30,000
South America
Total
130,000
6-700,000
500,000

Maersk´s green methanol sourcing partners

CIMC ENRIC, a subsidiary of CIMC (China)

CIMC is a large, industrial conglomerate that has been a partner of Maersk for more than two decades. Its energy division – CIMC ENRIC – is a world leading manufacturer of key equipment and services provider of engineering and system solutions for the clean energy, chemical and liquid food industries.

CIMC ENRIC will develop bio-methanol projects for Maersk in China. The phase one project will have a capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes/year of green methanol, starting in 2024. The second phase of the project will have a capacity produce of 200,000 tonnes/year with start date to be determined. The feedstock for the bio-methanol will be agricultural residues. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.

 

CIMC Enric buys Burg Service

CIMC  and Maersk have enjoyed close cooperation for the past two decades. We’re glad that the two parties have identified another area of collaboration. As a leading intelligent manufacturer in clean energy industry, CIMC ENRIC has rich experience and advanced technology in place. We are always committed to making energy cleaner, the environment more sustainable and to creating a better life. Our partnership on green methanol endeavor will not only support Maersk’s journey towards its net zero goal, but also will jointly contribute to a greener and more sustainable future for the shipping industry.

Mr. Leo Yang
Executive Director and General Manager of CIMC ENRIC

European Energy (Denmark)

European Energy is a global renewable energy company and project developer (wind, solar and Power to X). It develops, builds, and operates renewable electricity projects globally with a pipeline consisting of 20 GW renewable energy capacity.

As a partner, European Energy will produce e-methanol for Maersk´s first green feeder vessel, which is expected to be on the water by 2023. They will also develop e-methanol projects in Latin America and the United States that will have a capacity to produce up to 200-300,000 tonnes annually of e-methanol starting in 2025/2026. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced on long-term contracts to help its customers realize their own ambitious emission targets.

Photographic portrait of Denmark

We are very pleased to strengthen our already strong relationship with Maersk with this multi-year partnership where the annual target is to deliver up to 300.000 tons of e-methanol. The shipping industry is a vital part in global efforts to curb carbon emissions, and together with Maersk we are now leading this crucial transition towards running ships 100 percent on renewable energy.

Knud Erik Andersen
Co-founder and CEO of European Energy

Green Technology Bank (China)

Green Technology Bank (GTB) was established in 2016 by the Chinese government with the priority task to fulfill the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The purpose is to strengthen the integration of technology and finance, accelerate the transformation and industrialization of technological achievements, drive the realization of 2030 sustainable development goals, and explore a green development model.

GTB will facilitate the development of bio-methanol projects in China together with project developers to be identified. The first project is planned to have a capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes/year starting from 2024, and the second project is planned to have a capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes/year at a start date to be determined.

Junhao Zhu – Eric Rubin Lab

We’re pleased to support Maersk’s pursuit for green energy to achieve sustainable development. We will collaborate with our partners, integrate technical and financial resources to establish facilities in China to produce green methanol for Maersk. We believe this will also contribute to reduce China’s dependence on energy imports such as oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The green methanol produced will rely entirely on resources available in China.

Junhao Zhu
President of GTB

Orsted (Denmark)

Orsted is a global renewable energy company with activities within onshore wind, solar-pv, Power-to-X, and offshore wind, where the company is the world leader. Orsted has a strategic ambition of installing 50 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. The company is the only energy company in the world with a science-based net-zero emissions target as validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Orsted aims at becoming a global leader within Power-to-X and currently has a development pipeline of 11 projects across several hard-to-abate sectors. Partnering with Maersk on the company’s ambitious decarbonisation journey, Orsted will develop an e-methanol project in the US that will have a capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes/year starting 2025. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.

Martin Neubert - EVP & CEO, Offshore Wind at Ørsted | The Org

The maritime industry faces a chicken-and-egg challenge, where the supply and demand of green fuels will have to evolve in parallel to fast ensure a sustainable development of zero emission fuels. Orsted is very pleased to partner with A.P. Moller – Maersk to address this challenge by scaling green fuel production together with an industry leader in the maritime sector.

Martin Neubert
Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial Officer at Orsted

Proman (Switzerland)

Proman is an integrated energy company and the world’s second-largest methanol producer. Headquartered in Switzerland, with assets in the United States, Trinidad, and Oman, and ongoing expansion into Mexico and Canada, Proman is a global leader in methanol, fertilizer and other products such as melamine. The company is committed to developing sustainable methanol and ammonia as cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, offering a pathway to drastically cutting emissions in power generation, overland transportation, shipping and industry.

Proman will aim to supply Maersk with 100,000 – 150,000 tonnes/year of green methanol from its in-development facility in North America. The project will be built by Proman with target start of operations in 2025, producing bio-methanol from non-recyclable forestry residues and municipal solid waste.

Proman Group CEO David Cassidy has said while TT is not part of the company's growth strategy at the moment because of the current environment, it was interested in being part of the solution, and invested US$250 million in De Novo. Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

Maersk’s industry-leading commitment to green methanol is fully aligned with Proman’s belief that methanol should be a key part of the energy transition. We are excited to bring our deep industry experience to help deliver on Maersk’s bold ambitions, highlighting the viability of methanol as a marine fuel and working together to deliver green methanol and clean shipping at a global scale.

David Cassidy
Proman Chief Executive

WasteFuel (US)

WasteFuel is a California-based start-up addressing the climate emergency by transforming unrecovered waste into sustainable fuels using proven technologies. WasteFuel has established strategic partnerships with leading global companies and technology providers to develop biorefinery projects and to ensure the environmental and commercial aspects of each project and industry are met safely, efficiently, and economically. Maersk Growth invested in the company in 2021.

WasteFuel is developing a bio-methanol project in South America that will produce over 30,000 tons per year starting in 2024. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.

trevor-headshot.png

Maersk´s order of 12 ships -each with a 16,000-container capacity- that can be powered with green methanol is an unprecedented act of leadership in the corporate response to the climate emergency. Those ships need fuel and WasteFuel is ready to provide it, steadily increasing volume over the years to come.

Trevor Neilson
Co-founder, Chairman and CEO at WasteFuel
Show More
Back to top button
error: Content is Protected :)