SIMIC

THE world's first ship-to-ship methanol bunkering for a very large containership, the Maersk Ane, has been carried out in Ulsan port, according to UK's Seatrade Maritime News.

Maersk's first 16,200 TEU methanol-fuelled newbuilding successfully completed a ship-to-ship bunkering on green methanol in the South Korean port after leaving HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan where it was constructed.



"Competition among international ports to pre-empt the market by building ports that supply sustainable marine fuel is accelerating," said Kang Do-Hyung, the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.



"Under the goal of achieving net-zero by 2050 in the global shipping sector, we will make all-out efforts to strengthen competitiveness so that Korea can lead the global trend of switching to sustainable fuels."



It is the first in a series of eighteen very large methanol powered container ships ordered by Maersk and the company continues to work on sourcing green methanol for 2024 and 2025.



Kim Jae-gyun, the president of Ulsan Port Authority, commented: "Following the success of the world's first green methanol PTS bunkering for container ships in July last year, Ulsan Port has succeeded in green methanol STS bunkering for a very large container ship. We will do our best to proactively respond to the paradigm shift in ship fuel so that Ulsan Port can be reborn as a hub port for sustainable marine fuel supply."



The Ane Maersk will be deployed on Maersk's AE7 service between Asia and Europe from February.