Maersk inks deal with Goldwind for 500,000 tonnes of green methanol a year

Maersk undocked the first of its 16,000 TEU methanol fueled containerships earlier this year. [Photo: Maersk]

With 12 large methanol dual-fueled ships on order, A.P. Moller Maersk has reached a long-term green methanol offtake agreement with Chinese developer Goldwind covering annual volumes of 500,000 tonnes of the fuel.

Goldwind is the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines and will produce the volumes covered by the agreement, which will include both green bio-methanol and e-methanol, utilizing wind energy at a new production facility in Hinggan League, northeast China, around 1,000 kilometers northeast of Beijing. Production is expected to begin in 2026. Following the offtake agreement with Maersk, Goldwind expects to confirm a final investment decision for the facility by the end of the year.

“This deal is a milestone for Maersk as it enables us to significantly reduce our emissions footprint in this decade and stay aligned with the 1.5-degree Celsius trajectory as set out in the Paris Agreement, ensuring continued supply of low carbon shipping services to our customers in the second half of this decade,” said Rabab Raafat Boulos, chief infrastructure officer at A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Maersk says that the deal significantly de-risks the initial stages of its net-zero journey and supports its expectations for a competitive green methanol market to emerge by 2030. The record-high volumes are sufficient to fuel more than half the methanol-enabled capacity Maersk currently has on order.

“Goldwind respects Maersk as a pioneer in the field of maritime green fuel and we are excited to jointly promote the green transition with Maersk,” said Goldwind chairman Wu Gang. “With this project, Goldwind will continue to explore the innovative application of new technologies, pursue the organic combination of green electricity and green fuel production, and optimize the production process of green methanol. Goldwind is committed to collaborating with companies involved in the green methanol industry, with the aim to make green methanol one of the most important and economically feasible clean maritime fuels in the future.”