On the morning of 28 March, the "Ane Maersk", the world's first large methanol-capable container ship operated by the Maersk shipping company with a capacity of more than 16,000 TEU, moored at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg for the first time on its maiden voyage from Asia to Europe, according to the company's release.
The global shipping industry is embracing sustainability, and Maersk stands at the forefront by introducing large container ships powered by green fuel methanol. The "Ane Maersk" is the first of its kind to utilize methanol as fuel and make a port call at the Port of Hamburg.
With a length of 350 metres and a width of 53.5 metres, the "Ane Maersk" has a new ship design with the bridge superstructures at the very front of the bow. This was necessary to compensate for the loss of cargo space due to the larger tanks required. Methanol has only about half the energy content of fossil oil. This means that about twice as much fuel is needed. "Ane Maersk" currently runs on environmentally friendly bio-methanol, emitting around two-thirds less greenhouse gases than fossil fuel (ultra-low sulphur oil).
Synthetically produced e-methanol could reduce emissions by well over 90 per cent in the future. Production plants for e-methanol are currently under construction - the first is near Aabenraa in Denmark, just over the German border. Maersk will also receive green e-methanol from this European Energy production line, which is due to start up this summer.
Due to the still limited availability of green methanol worldwide, "Ane Maersk" and her sister ships can 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 pipeline until 2027. Methanol has the advantage of being non-toxic and easy to handle as a marine fuel.
The "Ane Maersk" is deployed on Maersk's Asia-Europe liner service (AE-7). The containership will call at a total of 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), Ningbo. The 14 vessels, ranging in capacity from 15,300 to 19,100 TEU, take 98 days to complete a round trip, as the service avoids the Red Sea, including the Suez Canal, and the Cape of Good Hope.
The "Ane Maersk" is expected to leave the port of Hamburg for Antwerp on 30 March 2024.