SIBCON22: Berge Bulk Plans Methanol-Fuelled Vessel Orders

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday October 6, 2022

Dry bulk shipping company Berge Bulk is likely to order methanol-fuelled vessels in the future as it seeks to decarbonise its fleet.

The firm has set itself a target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025. That goal will initially involve carbon offsets, but methanol-fuelled ship orders will become a focus over the medium term, CEO James Marshall told Ship & Bunker on the sidelines of Singapore's Sibcon bunker industry event on Wednesday.

"We're focusing on methanol," Marshall said in a Sibcon panel session the same day. 

"We think that's a fuel that has staying power.

"It can become bio-methanol, and has the potential to have a sort of circular economy and circular carbon footprint, which is important."

Container line AP Moller Maersk has been the biggest supporter of methanol as a bunker fuel thus far, with 19 methanol-fuelled ships now on order. The biggest challenge for early adopters of this alternative fuel will be to encourage producers to scale up bio- and synthetic methanol sufficiently for it to cover the new marine demand.