China’s Taiwan-based Wan Hai Lines has decided to convert eight 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel very large container vessels ordered from a Korean shipbuilder to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), meaning the series will be the first LNG dual-fuel powered container vessels in Wan Hai Lines’s fleet.
The change in fuel choice is expected to increase the cost of each vessel by more than US$30 million and the total cost by more than US$240 million, the sources said. The new vessels will be equipped with MAN ES’s ME-GI engines, and the LNG fuel tanks will use membrane seal technology from France’s GTT.
It is worth noting that last month it was rumored that Wan Hai Lines was intending to change the propulsion method of its eight methanol dual-fuel very large container vessels to LNG.
Last year, Wan Hai Lines signed contracts with HD Hyundai Samho and Samsung Heavy Industries for the construction of four 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel container vessels. Among them, four vessels undertaken by HD Hyundai Samho are expected to be delivered in November 2028, with a single vessel cost of about US$197 million and a total value of about US$788 million; four vessels undertaken by Samsung Heavy Industries are expected to be delivered in December 2027, with a single vessel cost of about US$196.5 million and a total value of about US$786 million.
It is understood that this shift in investment by Wan Hai Lines means that the company will be the next major liner to switch from methanol to LNG fuel, following Maersk and Evergreen Marine.
Last October, Maersk, the initiator and leader in methanol fueling, placed an order with Hanwha Ocean for six 15,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel vessels, representing a significant change in the industry giant’s fuel choice. Since then, Maersk has ordered new vessels at New Times Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, all of which are LNG-fueled.
Not coincidentally, another Taiwan Province shipowner Evergreen Marine has also changed its fuel selection strategy over the past two years, changing its new vessel orders from methanol fuel to LNG fuel. In February this year, the shipowner announced that it had placed orders for 11 24,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel very large container vessels at two Chinese and South Korean shipyards, with Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI) and Hanwha Ocean undertaking five and six vessels respectively. And by 2023, the 24 16,000 TEU container vessels ordered by Evergreen Marine at Samsung Heavy Industries and Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding will all be powered by methanol dual-fuel.
In recent years, LNG has replaced methanol as the mainstream fuel choice in the newbuilding market.
A total of 46 container newbuildings, excluding option contracts, were signed in the first two months of 2025, with all container vessels in the 5,000 TEU and above class being LNG dual-fueled, according to shipping analyst Alphaliner. The agency says: “LNG has returned to the forefront of shipping companies’ attention as a short- to medium-term option to reduce carbon emissions.”