Maersk enters Chinese green bio-methanol partnership with Debo

Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk A/S (CPH:MAERSK-A; CPH:MAERSK-B) on Friday announced its seventh green methanol partnership since the start of the year and the third one in China.

Maersk has signed a letter of intent with Chinese bioenergy enterprise Debo, which will develop a 200,000-tonne-per-year bio-methanol facility for its Danish partner. The new plant will use agricultural residues as feedstock and should begin commercial operation by the autumn of 2024.

“The use of green methanol as marine fuel to replace the existing fossil fuel is groundbreaking in the container shipping history and will strongly promote the development of green shipping,” commented Zhang Shoujun, chairman and general manager of Debo.

In March, Maersk unveiled similar partnerships with Denmark’s Ørsted A/S and European Energy A/S, California-based start-up WasteFuel, Swiss integrated energy firm Proman, as well as with China’s CIMC ENRIC and Green Technology Bank (GTB). Those six deals cover the sourcing of at least 730,000 tonnes of green methanol annually by end-2025.

The company noted that the contracted volume goes “well beyond” the green methanol required for the first 12 green container vessels currently on order.

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