Asia/Pacific News
COSCO New Boxship Bunkers Locally Produced Green Methanol for First Time
COSCO Shipping has completed a green methanol bunkering operation using domestically produced fuel for the first time on one of its vessels.
The bunkering took place at Yangpu Port on Tuesday, with the newly delivered dual-fuel container ship receiving 200 mt of green methanol, according to a report by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).
The 16,000 TEU vessel, COSCO Shipping Yangpu, was unveiled in February and officially delivered on June 20. It is the first methanol dual-fuel container ship to be operated by a Chinese shipowner and is equipped with China's first domestically developed methanol engine.
The firm claims the vessel can complete a one-way voyage between the Far East and the US West Coast using only methanol due to its large 11,000 m3 methanol onboard storage capacity.
Methanol has a lower energy density compared to conventional marine fuels. According to Methanol Institute, MGO has an energy density of 36.6 GJ/m3 compared to methanol's 15.8 GJ/m3.
This means a methanol-fuelled vessel would need to carry approximately 2.4 times more methanol than an MGO-fuelled vessel to achieve the same energy output for a voyage.
