As part of its fleet renewal programme, Maersk will be adding around 60 vessels, including those running on LNG. Maersk will be operating a mix of owned and chartered dual fuel fleet totalling 800,000 teus. Ships running on Methanol will also form part of the fleet. Maersk may also experiment with bio-LNG and conventional oil-derived fuels as well. “It would be risky for us as a company to bet only on one technology,” Maersk Chief Executive Officer Vincent Clerc said in a presentation in Copenhagen.
He said he expects different green technologies to co-exist and compete for some time, before the market may settle on one. The shipping industry is under pressure to decarbonise but still largely relies on oil-derived fuel. Maersk has begun the process of securing offtake agreements for liquefied biomethane — bio-LNG — to ensure that the new dual-fuel gas vessels provide emissions reductions in this decade, according to the company’s statement.
Between 2026 and 2030, around 800,000 TEU of capacity will be added to Maersk’s fleet, as it replaces older vessels. Most of these new entrants will be dual fuelled, but not all orders are final, which means Maersk will also explore different ecofuels, a Maersk spokesperson said.
