Recently, COSCO Shipping Holdings/COSCO Shipping Lines and COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry formally signed a contract for methanol dual-fuel conversion of two 13,800 TEU and two 20,000 TEU existing container ships, which is the world’s first case of dual-fuel conversion of the main engine of MAN and the secondary engine of WARTSILA in parallel.
After the conversion is completed, the four container ships will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 360,000 tons per year.
Based on the contract, the first container ship will be retrofitted in mid-2025. The conversion project not only provides an alternative path for the green and low-carbon transformation and development of COSCO Shipping’s container ship fleet, but also extends the operating lifetime of the existing fleet and realizes fuel flexibility.
With the acceleration of the decarbonization process in the shipping industry, the conversion of existing ships to dual-fuel engines has also become the focus of the industry when shipping companies order new alternative-fueled ships, and there is a huge market potential for the conversion of ships into dual-fuel engines.
Dual-fuel ships can be operated in any mode of alternative energy fuel or conventional fuel. In terms of retrofitting, operating costs and technological maturity, green methanol is currently more advantageous than LNG and ammonia.