Denmark's Maersk Line has signed a long-term bio-methanol offtake agreement with LONGi Green Energy Technology Company

The agreement will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Maersk's growing fleet of dual-fuel methanol container ships, Maersk said in an official press release.

“Bio. e-methanol remains the most promising alternative shipping fuel to scale up in this decade, as evidenced by the agreement with LONGi,” said Rabab Raafat Boulos, Chief Operating Officer, Maersk.” “The main net-zero challenge for global shipping is the price gap between fossil fuels and lower GHG-emitting alternatives. We continue to strongly urge IMO member states to level the playing field by adopting a global green fuel standard and an ambitious pricing mechanism that the industry urgently needs. Maersk has made progress in securing methanol for the dual-fuel methanol fleet it owns, with seven of the vessels already in operation, as the number of Dragon bases increases. “Maersk's consolidated methanol offtake agreements now cover more than 50 percent of the 2027 dual-fuel methanol fleet requirements.”

Emma Mazhar, head of energy marketing at Maralsk, said: "We believe there are multiple paths to net zero emissions for the global logistics industry in the future, and this agreement highlights the continued momentum of methanol projects, with developers in all markets pursuing ambitious methanol projects, with China continuing to play a pioneering role, and encouragingly we are also seeing strong market momentum in other regions." One example is the United States, with which we are working closely on several promising projects.

The press release added that the agreement with Longi will supply biomethanol produced at a plant in Xuchang, central China, which will be made from residues (straw and fruit tree clippings).