On the afternoon of June 26, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry and SEASPAN held a signing ceremony for the first batch of methanol dual-fuel conversion contracts for 10,000 TEU containerships.
SEASPAN’s five 10,000 TEU conventional fuel containerships to be converted into methanol dual-fuel powered containerships will be signed and executed by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industries (Shanghai).
As previously announced, the total investment in the methanol dual-fuel power conversion project for five large containerships is estimated to be about $120 million, with a cost of about $24 million for each containership.
Theses five containerships are the Seaspan Amazon, the Seaspan Ganges, the Seaspan Thames, “Seaspan Yangtze” and “Seaspan Zambezi”. They are about 337 meters long, with a deadweight of about 115,000 tons and a maximum capacity of 10,100 TEUs, and were built in 2014 by a Chinese shipbuilder.
The conversion work is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2026 and is expected to last 80 to 90 days for each containership, to convert the currently equipped MAN B&W S90 engines to methanol dual-fuel powered engines. MAN ES has said that such conversions are not complicated due to the fact that the company’s standardized electronically controlled diesel engines are being built as dual-fuel engines and are ready for conversion. Back in July 2023, Hapag-Lloyd and Seaspan have signed an agreement with Man ES for the conversion of main engines on 15+45 containerships.
It is reported that in order to meet the requirements of green and low-carbon related regulations and conventions, and to reduce operating costs, many conventional energy-saving measures, such as multi-objective line optimization and energy-saving devices, have been applied in the research and development of large containerships.
As an important participant in the global shipping industry, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai), in accordance with the overall deployment of COSCO Shipping Group, is committed to promoting the green transformation of the shipping industry.
Since the IMO adopted the greenhouse gas GHG reduction strategy in 2018, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai) has responded positively. And by technological innovation and industrial upgrading, it has continuously explored and practiced the green alternative fuel transformation for ships. Green methanol fuel, as an internationally recognized clean fuel, features the advantages of low carbon emission in the whole life cycle and renewability, which is an important way for ships to transform to low/zero carbon since IMO adopted the GHG emission reduction strategy for greenhouse gases in 2018.
COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai) has been actively exploring in the methanol dual-fuel conversion market, practicing the new mode of “green production, digital operation and intelligent manufacturing”, and has set a precedent for domestic shipyards in the field of dual-fuel ship conversion.
In March 2024, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai) signed a contract with COSCO Shipping Lines for dual-fuel conversion of containerships. The successful signing of this contract with SEASPAN marks another important breakthrough for COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai) in the field of green alternative fuel conversion for ships.
