Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has selected CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. to build up to 15 3,500 TEU methanol dual-fuel-powered feeder container ships, according to Trade Winds. The value of the order is just over $1 billion (roughly RMB 7.135 billion), with Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding reportedly offering around $68 million for a single vessel.
Last month, Maersk identified CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group as the only two candidates for the series of methanol dual-fuel-powered feeder containerships. Maersk finally decided to place the order with the state-owned shipyard instead of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group because the offer from CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding was more competitive, the sources said.
In addition to the two shipyards mentioned above, Zhoushan Changhong International and Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding were initially among Maersk’s considerations. Previously, it was also reported that Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, a shipbuilding subsidiary of HD Hyundai Group, which built the world’s first methanol dual-fuel-powered feeder container ship for Maersk, may also receive the order. However, according to the latest news, this big order is taken by a Chinese shipyard.
Excluding the 15 3,500 TEU methanol dual-fuel boxships mentioned above, Maersk’s order for methanol-fueled newbuildings has reached 25 ships, which will be delivered between 2024 and 2027.
Although Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group “lost” in the order battle, it has signed a contract with Maersk for the construction of six 9,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel-powered containerships in June 2023, which is the first methanol dual-fuel-powered containership order that Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group has ever taken, and the first time Maersk has placed an order in China for a methanol dual-fuel-powered containership. If Maersk and Huangpu Wenchong formally sign the contract, it means that Maersk has ordered the second methanol dual-fuel-powered vessel from China.
The first of 12 16,200 TEU methanol dual-fuel powered containerships ordered by Maersk has recently been launched at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. The vessel cut its steel plates in December 2022 and is scheduled for delivery in early 2024. Currently, Maersk is pushing ahead with its fleet renewal. Maersk expects to deliver and commission a full fleet of green methanol-powered vessels by 2027, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 3 million tons when all methanol-powered vessels are deployed and old ones replaced.
Maersk has also committed to ordering, in principle, only its own ships that can sail on green fuel in the future. Also, Maersk is working with its global partners to find green methanol fuel supply options for ships to be delivered between 2024 and 2025.
Huangpu Wenchong is a large-scale core shipbuilding enterprise under China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). It is the main construction base for military ships, special engineering ships, offshore engineering, official ships and commercial cargo ships in South China, and also the main construction base for dredging engineering ships and feeder container ships in China.
Container ships of various specifications built by Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, represented by 1700TEU, 2200TEU, 2500TEU, 2800TEU and 3400TEU container ships, have reached the advanced level in the world. The company holds five core factories, covering an area of nearly 3.2 million square meters, with a total of more than 5,300 meters of wharves, and a number of large-scale shipyards of 12,000-ton, 25,000-ton, 70,000-ton, 150,000-ton, and 200,000-ton classes.
