Described as the “largest single contract ever,” Samsung Heavy Industries has announced it has received a massive order worth 3,959.3 billion Korean Won (about AUD$4.56 billion) for 16 methanol-powered boxships each with a capacity of 16,000 TEU from an Asian ship owner.
“This broke the previous record (12 LNG carriers, KRW 3.331 trillion) set by Samsung Heavy Industries in June of last year. These vessels are scheduled to be delivered by December 2027,” the company said.
Methanol can reduce sulfur oxides emissions by 99%, nitrogen oxides by 80%, and carbon dioxide by more than 20%, compared to the traditional ship fuel, bunker C oil, Samsung Heavy Industries note.
Methanol can potentially be made in an industrial process using renewable feedstocks (hydrogen, oxygen, and biologically-sourced carbon) using green power. Biogenically-sourced carbon originates in the atmosphere, is drawn-down by plants, and is later collected in an industrial system for processing into fuel. If green methanol is then combusted as fuel, then the carbon in the fuel is merely returned to the atmosphere unlike, say, the carbon from fossil fuels, which is extra carbon that had been sequestered underground for millenia, which is then added to the carbon in the atmosphere.
“The global ship market paying attention to ‘methanol (CH3OH)’ after LNG as an eco-friendly fuel,” the ship builder said.
In April this year, international shipping major CMA CGM confirmed that had placed orders for 12 methanol-powered ships, each with a capacity of 15,000 TEU, and a price tag of USD$175m per ship, with builder China State Shipbuilding Corp. Immediately prior to that, ship operator COSCO had placed for boxships of 16,000 TEU, all of which would be methanol-capable.
According to class society DNV, by 2028, there will be 26 methanol-powered ships (all kinds) in service and 130 more on order. The vast majority of these, 104, will be container ships.
