Maersk's First 'Equinox-Class' Methanol Boxship to be Delivered in February

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday May 19, 2023

Container shipping and logistics company AP Moller-Maersk is expecting the first of its larger methanol-fuelled boxships to be delivered in February.

The new 'Equinox-class' 16,200 TEU ship is expected to be delivered on February 29, a company representative said on LinkedIn this week. The vessel has an innovative design to fit the larger fuel tanks needed for methanol, with the accommodation at the front of the ship and the engine casing at the back.

The firm's first methanol-fuelled ship, a 2,100 TEU feeder vessel expected to be named Laura Maersk, was floated out at its South Korean shipyard last month and is due to arrive in Copenhagen for its start of operations in September.

The expected size of the methanol bunker market in the second half of the 2020s is now growing rapidly, with large container ship orders from Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO and others. Supply of green methanol will need to be ramped up rapidly to keep all of the new ships fuelled.