OCI Global fuels first ever green methanol powered container vessel
OCI Global has announced it is fueling the first ever green methanol-powered container ship in a new partnership with A.P. Moller-Maersk. OCI will provide ISCC certified green biomethanol to power the maiden voyage of Maersk’s first dual-fueled container ship, in a pioneering step towards the decarbonization of global shipping, according to the company's release.
The journey demonstrates OCI’s unique capacity to supply marine customers with end-to-end green methanol solutions in major global bunkering locations, and further supports green methanol as the leading choice today for decarbonizing the marine sector, which is responsible for 3% of global GHG emissions.
The vessel leaves South Korea for its maiden voyage this summer, sailing along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes to Northern Europe via the Suez Canal, bunkering at several major ports along its journey. OCI is obtaining the approvals and permits required to commercially bunker methanol in several ports on the ship’s voyage, including Port of Rotterdam, positioning OCI as the first commercial bunker operator of methanol in these regions.
OCI anticipates incremental global demand for methanol at 4 million tons per year in the next five years, based on current orders from the marine sector.
Through its OCI HyFuels brand, OCI is the largest green methanol producer globally. It has led the development of green methanol application in vehicle fuels, now placing up to 200,000 tons per annum equivalent and is growing its suite of low-carbon and green methanol products, including biomethanol, e-methanol, recycled carbon fuel (RCF) methanol, renewable natural gas, ethanol and bio-MTBE.
In anticipation of expected demand for renewable and low carbon ammonia and methanol, OCI has announced several major projects to significantly increase sustainable production of its two core products. These include GasifHy, the gasification project at its existing European methanol facility to shift it to green methanol production; a 1.1mtpa blue ammonia plant in Texas, USA, scheduled to start production in 2025 and its Egypt Green ammonia facility through Fertiglobe (a strategic partnership between OCI and ADNOC), where the first tons of green ammonia from electrolysis were produced earlier this year.
