How can new shipbuilding reduce emissions? Liner companies face a critical choice

When placing orders for new ships, some liner companies choose methanol and LNG as power, and some choose "dual fuel ready", but which one is the best option? There is no standard answer yet. No matter what, we have to drive to the destination of "carbon neutrality" and "peak emissions".
 
CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd:
 
Choose LNG + low-sulphur oil dual fuel
 
CMA CGM, the world's second largest liner company, uses LNG dual-fuel, and the use of LNG is one of the first steps towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
 
Although Hapag-Lloyd also chose LNG-powered container ships, the time was relatively lagging. Only three months after CMA CGM's first LNG-powered ship was put into use, it began to place orders for construction.
 
Research shows that although LNG fuel is a transitional fuel, it has strong plasticity. If the emission reduction requirements cannot be met in the future, other methods can be adopted without modification, such as green fuels such as electrochemical LNG and biological LNG. It can also be further modified into other "carbon neutral" fuels.
 
Maersk: Preferred methanol + low sulfur oil dual fuel
 
In 2018, Maersk pledged to achieve zero emissions by 2050 and was also the first liner company to commit to zero emissions. After nearly three years of research, Maersk recently stated that the technical difficulties of methanol-powered ships have been solved, so it has decided to leapfrog the transitional stage of using LNG fuel as power and directly choose zero-emission fuel-methanol.
 
In 2021, Maersk frequently places orders for new ships, all using dual-fuel power of methanol + low-sulfur oil.
 
The data shows that compared with the existing marine fuel oil, the use of methanol as power can reduce up to 99% of sulfur oxide emissions, 80% of nitrogen oxide emissions and 25% of carbon dioxide emissions.
 
COSCO SHIPPING: Focus on "Dual Fuel Ready"
 
Compared with the above-mentioned liner companies, as the world's third largest liner company in terms of capacity, COSCO SHIPPING's choice is relatively prudent. Judging from its recent newbuilding orders, COSCO Shipping chose "dual fuel ready".
 
The so-called "dual fuel ready" is to consider the readiness and preparation for future modifications as much as possible in the design process. After modification, traditional fuels can be used, or alternative fuels such as LNG can be used.
 
Each shipowner needs to formulate its own decarbonization ladder roadmap based on its own decarbonization strategy, business needs and fleet planning. Currently, there is no definite answer to the long-term goal of shipping decarbonization.
 
These industry leaders have found the current technological path that is most in line with their decarbonization strategies and forecasts, and have begun to take action. However, it is difficult to judge which path will eventually dominate the future market. Perhaps these paths will play a role in the transformation and development of shipping decarbonization.
 
Source: Sarah Yu, XINDE MARINE NEWS

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