Ocean carrier A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) has unveiled the design of its new 16,000 TEU vessels powered by carbon-neutral methanol.
The vessels are set to be 250 metres long, 53.5 metres wide and will look significantly different from the line’s previous large container vessels.
The crew accommodation and bridge will be located at the bow to enable increased container capacity, and the funnel will be in the aft, and only on one side of the vessel to provide further space for cargo.
The design stage of this vessel took nearly five years, all while crossing uncharted naval design territory. When being designed, crew comfort, adequate hull strength, new arrangements for lifeboats and navigational lights, and new cameras to support the captain’s view all needed to be considered.
The series was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and comes with an innovative dual-fuel engine setup that can operate on methanol and conventional low-sulphur fuel. With its fuel capacity, the vessels will be able to complete an entire round trip on green methanol.
“Today we introduce the design of our eight groundbreaking and industry-leading 16,000 TEU container vessels powered by carbon-neutral methanol,” said Maersk in a statement. “When designing these, our ambition was to make sure the new vessels could service our customers in a smarter way while contributing to their carbon-neutral transportation goals.
“Unique to the industry, this design allows a 20% improved energy efficiency per transported container when compared to the industry average for vessels of this size. Additionally, the entire series is expected to save around one million tons of annual CO2 emissions, offering our customers carbon-neutral transportation at scale on ocean trades.”
The first vessel is scheduled to be in operation by the beginning of 2024.
Maersk has also made the news recently with its announcement that it is to provide end-to-end logistics solutions for Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Co. (UNAHCO).
The carrier is set to provide these solutions alongside a dedicated warehouse and bagging facility in the Philippines, to meet the growing demand in the agricultural grain supply chain. This also marks Maersk’s first investment in the storage and bagging field in the Philippines.
