News / Maersk strikes methanol deal with China's Goldwind

A Maersk methanol-fuelled ship

China’s apparent antipathy to greening international shipping may be changing course, after a domestic green methanol developer, Goldwind, struck a major deal with Maersk.

Announcing the news, AP Moller-Maersk said it had reached a long-term offtake agreement for annual volumes of 500kt of the fuel for the 12 large methanol-enabled container vessels it has on order, with the first volumes expected in 2026.

Chief infrastructure officer at the Danish shipping giant, Rabab Raafat Boulos, said: “This deal is a milestone for Maersk.

“It enables us to significantly reduce our emissions footprint in this decade and stay aligned with the 1.5-degree Celsius trajectory as set out in the Paris Agreement, ensuring continued supply of low carbon shipping services to our customers in the second half of this decade.”

The first of Maersk’s methanol-powered box ships, a 16,000-teu vessel, is due to enter the fleet in the first three months of next year, with the remainder due for delivery by 2025.

But it is the participation of a Chinese firm in the agreement that caught commentators by surprise, particularly given China’s seeming obstruction of IMO efforts to reduce shipping emissions in July during MEPC 80.

Those efforts included its objection to a carbon levy for international shipping, which China claimed would be unfair on developing countries.

And while the Chinese delegation let it be known that it considered “an overly ambitious emission reduction” an impediment to sustainable shipping, it was also apparently concerned by the increased supply chain costs and the “adverse” impact on global economic recovery.

Instead, it proposed offsets elsewhere, which came as no surprise given China’s success on land, hitting its self-imposed 1,200GW-target of renewable energy five years early.

Given Chinese government influence on business, though, the deal between Goldwind and Maersk is being seen as something of a change in direction, with production set to begin in 2026 at a facility in northeast China.

While Maersk did not respond to comment, one shipping source described the deal to The Loadstar as the carrier appearing to be “putting all its eggs in one basket”.

Chair of Goldwind, Wu Gang, said of the deal: “Goldwind is committed to collaborating with companies involved in the green methanol industry, with the aim to make green methanol one of the most important and economically feasible clean maritime fuels in the future.”