This article compliments Maersk on their efforts to build a methanol-powered ship, and deploy it in the Baltic running on green methanol. I agree- it’s a great idea, and will actually be green, if they can pull off the creation of the sources of methanol properly.
But the author is less complimentary about how shipowners are approaching the fuel dilemma. He suspects that the craze for dual-fuel vessels is a way to hide the continued use of high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). Dual-fuel vessels can operate on methanol or ammonia or hydrogen, but don’t have to. When those fuels are available they could be used. But will they? It will probably be a lot cheaper to use HSFO, for quite a long time. These ships can claim ‘greenness’ without actually being green.
This could especially be a problem for ships reading in the ‘gray’ markets, such as sanctioned shipments. There’s no reason Russia or China for that matter should not continue to accept and make shipments delivered using HSFO. They are not participating in agreements to reduce maritime pollution from hydrocarbons.
It’s a real conundrum, and the splitting of world trade into two camps that follow different rules makes any sort of control harder.
We could be in for a long contest to actually reduce carbon output from ocean shipping.
Alternative fuel ships are essential for the Arctic cruise business, since fossil fuel burners will be banned in the Arctic seas starting in 2026. Here’s an innovative approach to develop an entire system, including engines and fuel production, for green hydrogen power of a cruise ship. The ship is expected to be ready for the 2025-2026 cruise season.
Four companies have joined forces to pull this off. I think it’s a great plan; I hope they can carry it out effectively.
Press Release (via Blue-C) January 31, 2023
A multidisciplinary collaboration, for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed last week, has the ambitious goal to develop a complete hydrogen value chain for Northern Xplorer AS (NX) first zero-emission cruise ship featuring fuel cells and electric propulsion, as well as making pollution-free hydrogen available to the wider maritime market at a time of urgent pressure to reduce emissions.
The partners comprise zero-emission cruise venture Northern Xplorer AS, hydrogen provider and owner of infrastructure Norwegian Hydrogen AS, high-capacity hydrogen transfer system supplier HYON AS, ship designers Multi Maritime AS, and hydrogen storage system provider Hexagon Purus Maritime AS.
Preparing for zero-carbon era NX CEO Rolf A Sandvik says using hydrogen as the energy carrier will enable cruise ships to continue to access vulnerable regions such as Norway’s world heritage fjords, which by government regulation will be closed to ships burning fossil fuels from 2026. Other regions both in Norway and elsewhere will likely follow suit in future.
“This is a very exciting project and a milestone in the development of the clean maritime economy as the green shift takes root. We are delighted to be working with strong partners with deep competence in all the touch points required to develop the infrastructure for hydrogen-powered ships of the future, not only cruise but also commercial shipping,” he added.
“Northern Xplorer has a very exciting concept with a spectacular, sustainable and future-oriented ship design that is truly pleasing to the eye. We are very pleased we have been selected to assist in developing the necessary infrastructure for these ships to run on zero-emission hydrogen when they come into operation,” said Norwegian Hydrogen CEO Jens Berge.
Holistic approach “We are excited to be part of a consortium consisting of industry leaders within the hydrogen value chain. Together we cover the full value chain, making this an important milestone in establishing hydrogen infrastructure for the maritime sector. Time is of the essence,” added HYON CEO Jørn Kristian Lindtvedt.
“This MOU strengthens our existing relationship with NX and expert partners, and facilitates the alignment of technologies between us. We look forward to seeing the first zero-emission cruise ship running on compressed hydrogen,” said Hexagon Purus Maritime MD Robert Haugen.
“We have been working for three years to create an eye-catching design that will incorporate the latest propulsion technology and vessel systems. It’s great to be part of this ground-breaking project and as a collaboration partner we are eager to bring this vessel and the associated hydrogen infrastructure to reality,” said Multi Maritime CEO Mikael Johansen.
NX signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Portuguese shipbuilder West Sea for the construction of its maiden vessel with delivery slated for the start of the 2025/2026 cruise season.
Green shipping corridors are the latest effort to create strategies for ESG compliance, particularly environmental, for the global shipping industry. These corridors are starting to show up in the planning stages. The intent is to create a connected system of ports that have all the improvements necessary to allow those ships using it to achieve a high level of compliance with green shipping standards.
That means the availability of fuels that meet international green standards such as those of IMO 2022, as well as green technology for loading and storage of containers and other products; and yard equipment that meets green operating standards.
Of these perhaps ensuring the availability of the fuels required is the most challenging. Availability alone is not enough; the price must be competitive, and sufficient storage must be in place; and long-term availability must be assured. The variety of fuels now under consideration for green ocean transport is a challenge. In addition to LSFO, some ships will soon require green methanol; major players such as Maersk and CMA-CGM are investing in methanol-powered ships. And recent studies have shown that fuels can burn greener, but the means of their production and storage have to be included in the fuel evaluation. An interesting study of this was made by Bureau Veritas (BV), a classification society, which described in detail the greenness from well to wake of a wide variety of power options from biodiesel and HS/LSFO to methanol and ammonia. Not all of these are easy to make and store.
So infrastructure will be incredibly important for the green corridors.
Some newly-announced corridors start from Singapore, which already has a large fuel infrastructure, and is a globally important financial center for dealing in fuels. That will be a tremendous advantage. European ports like Rotterdam and American ports like New York already have quite a bit of financial and storage infrastructure. These ports are already part of announced green corridors. However, even at these developed ports some of the alternative low emissions fuels are not available, nor is there the handling capability present.
The interview with the CEO of GCMD casts useful light on what’s needed.
Prof Lynn Loo, CEO of GCMD, in an interview at TOC Asia.
Much of the focus in decarbonising shipping is on the vessels, however, without developing landside infrastructure projects such as green corridors cannot take off.
Supply Chain and Logistics 