On April 10th, the first methanol fuel bunkering vessel ” Hai Gang Zhi Yuan” successfully provided 504 tons of green methanol to the large methanol-powered container ship “Astrid Maersk” berthed at Shanghai Yangshan Deepwater Port, completing the synchronous loading and unloading of containers and methanol fuel refueling.
It is reported that this is China’s first green methanol bunkering vessel for large container ships, and marks Shanghai Port as the first port in China with green methanol “ship-to-ship” synchronous bunkering capacity, as well as the few ports in the world with both green methanol and LNG “ship-to-ship” bunkering capacity.
With an overall length of 139.98 meters, a depth of 11.2 meters and a width of 20.2 meters, “Hai Gang Zhi Yuan” is the largest methanol bunkering vessel operating in the world and the first methanol bunkering vessel put into operation in China. With 12 cargo holds and a total capacity of 16,000 cubic meters, the vessel can supply ship-to-ship bunkering services for methanol-powered fueled international vessels and support synchronized container loading and unloading, which saves the turnaround time of international liners in ports and earns environmental and economic benefits for shipping enterprises.
The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration has formulated a management system for methanol fuel bunkering operations and actively carried out testing and validation of methanol bunkering equipment and processes. For the next step, Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration will further improve the safety management specification and normalized service mechanism of methanol fuel “ship to ship” synchronous refueling, Shanghai port become a regional green methanol bunkering hub, helping the maritime industry green and low-carbon transformation.
According to Maersk Group, the Astrid Maersk set sail for Shanghai in early April after a naming ceremony in Yokohama, Japan. This is the second in Maersk’s fleet of 18 large methanol-powered container ships, all of which are scheduled to be delivered and put into operation between 2024 and 2025.