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"reducing costs and ensuring coverage and timeliness are basic requirements for shipping cooperation, but for Maersk, two other factors to consider are reliability and decarbonization." On April 10, Ding Zejuan, president of Maersk Greater China, said in an interview with the Daily Business News that Maersk and Hebrot had the same goal on the issue of decarbonization, which led to the "Gemini" cooperation plan. there is also a joint effort with Shanghai Port Group to promote methanol filling to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of domestic port airlines.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Maersk's first ship docking at Shanghai Port, the "Astrid Maersk" realized the simultaneous refueling of China's first large methanol-powered container ship at Shanghai Yangshan Port. In this regard, Yan ci, chief representative of Maersk North Asia, said that generally speaking, green methanol is the best choice for alternative fuels at present.
The first methanol injection landed in Shanghai.
On April 10, the reporter boarded the "Astrid Maersk", the second of the 18 large methanol-powered container fleets ordered by Maersk. Since it was officially named in Yokohama, Japan in early April, it has gone to Shanghai Port for the "ship-ship" of green methanol.
On the display screen of the ship's cab, the reporter saw that the ship "Seaport Zhiyuan" under the Shanghai Port Group had successfully injected more than 500 tons of bonded green methanol into it. The captain said that compared with similar ships sailing on heavy oil, the ship's use of green methanol can reduce carbon emissions by about 280 tons per day.
From the negotiation to the landing, Maersk and the Shanghai Port Group took 18 months to promote the filling of green methanol. Yanci mentioned in the interview that on a global scale, Rotterdam and Singapore are recognized as green methanol filling centers, and China's green methanol industry chain will have the advantages of speed, price and scale. It is hoped that with the gradual improvement of laws and regulations on methanol marine fuel trading, the upstream and downstream enterprises of the green shipping industry chain can further use effective tools to promote the development of green methanol.
Ding Zejuan said that in the future, Maersk will focus on developing integrated logistics and reducing carbon emissions, especially in warehousing and distribution, on the basis of continuing to consolidate its shipping business and customer base.
The application of clean fuel is an important measure for decarbonization in the shipping industry, so the low-carbon emission of green methanol has entered Maersk's field of vision. since the second half of 2023, the investment heat of green methanol has increased significantly, and the orders of global methanol-powered ships are also increasing rapidly.
In the choice of new fuels, Yan Ci believes that the decarbonization process Brooks no delay, and green ammonia in ocean transportation is also a development trend in the future, but it will take 3 years for the configuration of the mainframe to be put into fleet operation, so we can't wait. At present, the technology of green methanol is very mature, and the marine engine that can use this fuel has been put into production. At the same time, the supply of green methanol is relatively guaranteed and storage is relatively advantageous, so green methanol is chosen as the first alternative energy to be used.
In terms of economy, Ding Zejuan said frankly that fuel accounts for a very large proportion of the cost of ship operation, and there is a large price difference between traditional fuel and green fuel, which is not a cost that any enterprise can afford for a long time. The intensity of corporate ESG targets and carbon tax is the main consideration in determining whether customers use green fuel, and customers are still willing to pay for green premium. For example, 3% of Maersk containers on Asia-Europe routes use environmentally friendly transport solutions. Yoki added that the price of green methanol, like wind power and photovoltaic, will increasingly tend to be acceptable to the market.
Decarbonization and reliability become the consensus of the industry.
At present, Maersk will deploy large green methanol-fueled container ships on the Asia-Europe route, and what far-reaching impact will the Red Sea crisis have on the ships on this route?
Ding Zejuan said that under the Red Sea crisis, Maersk's primary focus is to ensure the safety of the crew, so before the full restoration of safe navigation, it will continue to make a detour to the Cape of good Hope in Africa, and what can be done now is to better communicate with customers and learn from them.StudpokerOther routes are diverted to fill the resource gap, and the substantial increase in costs and the reduction of effective space are the most direct impact.
How to control costs is also a key task for Maersk to deal with the Red Sea crisis. Maersk's capacity supply strategy is to achieve higher transport efficiency by designing and optimizing new networks, rather than by buying ships to increase capacity. Ding Zejuan said: on the one hand, the company expects the demand of the whole container transportation market to further slow down in the future.StudpokerOn the other hand, the company believes that what customers need more is quality improvement.
In January this year, Maersk and Hebrot announced plans to launch a long-term operational collaboration plan called "Gemini" from February 2025, covering 26 trunk services in seven major trade routes, in order to ensure the required shift rate and contingency capacity.
Yan ci told reporters that the original ports attached to the Asia-Europe route may be from Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen, and then to Malaysia to Europe. After working with Herberot next year, for example, a fast boat will be used to take goods from Tianjin directly to Malaysia and then to Rotterdam, which will save about eight days. In addition to uncertain factors such as the Red Sea crisis, in fact, the daily heavy fog and typhoon weather will also lead to shipping delays. Reducing port connections and increasing the number of fast ships can provide customers with more reliable services.
In addition, decarbonization is another important factor in cooperation. Ding Zejuan said that finding partners in the alliance must have the same goal, otherwise there will be irreconcilable contradictions when sharing the shipping network. Maersk plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, while Herbert plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045, with both sides committed to achieving their respective decarbonization targets.
Source of cover picture: every photo taken by reporter Zhang Yun