Maersk’s methanol-enabled boxship calls at Hamburg

A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk)’s methanol-enabled container vessel,

time on its maiden trip from Asia to Europe.

The ‘Ane Maersk’ is the first of its kind to use methanol as fuel and makes

a port call in Hamburg.

Axel Mattern, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, remarked: “Ane Maersk’s

arrival at the Port of Hamburg underscores the maritime sector’s swift progress

towards climate neutrality. It reflects the Port of Hamburg’s commitment to

carbon neutrality.”

The Ane Maersk boasts a novel ship design, with the bridge superstructures

at the very front of the bow, and is 350 metres in length and 53.5 metres wide.

This was reportedly necessary to compensate for the cargo room loss caused by

the bigger tanks that were required.

Methanol contains around half the energy content of fossil oil. This means

that almost twice as much gasoline is required.

Ane Maersk is powered by ecologically friendly bio-methanol, which emits

around two-thirds fewer greenhouse emissions than fossil fuels (ultra-low

sulphur oil).

Synthetically manufactured e-methanol might lower emissions by more than 90

per cent in the future. E-methanol production plants are now under development,

with the first located at Aabenraa in Denmark, just across the German

border.

Maersk will also get green e-methanol from the European Energy

manufacturing facility, which is scheduled to start operations this summer.

Due to the restricted supply of green methanol worldwide, ‘Ane Maersk’ and

her sister ships may also run on biodiesel or fossil ultra-low sulphur oil

thanks to dual fuel technology.

Maersk has a further 23 methanol-capable newbuildings (9,000 to 17,000 TEU)

in the works till 2027. Methanol has the benefit of being non-toxic and simple

to use as a maritime fuel. The ‘Ane Maersk’ is assigned to Maersk’s Asia-Europe

liner service (AE-7).

The containership will call at 14 ports in the following order: Ningbo,

Shanghai, Nansha, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Colombo, Tangiers, Felixstowe,

Hamburg, Antwerp, London, Le Havre, Tangiers, Khalifa Seaport, Jebel Ali

(Dubai), and Ningbo.

The 14 vessels, with capacities ranging from 15,300 to 19,100 TEU, require

98 days to complete a round voyage, avoiding the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, and

the Cape of Good Hope. The Ane Maersk is scheduled to leave Hamburg for Antwerp

on 30 March 2024.

Recently, the Ane Maersk, recently completed its inaugural port call at the

Port of Colombo.