HMM orders dual fuel ships

HMM is the latest shipping line to be veering towards methanol dual fuel orders with multiple local media outlets suggesting it has invited tenders from Korean yards to build up to nine 8,000 teu dual fuel ships.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction are all in the mix for contracts. HJ Shipbuilding & Construction was formerly known as Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction.

The news comes in a year that has already seen some of the industry’s biggest players commit to methanol dual fuel newbuildings as a means to progressively reduce carbon emissions and cut ship-source pollution.

Maersk set the ball rolling with multiple boxship orders. In China, the nation’s top two shipping companies, COSCO and China Merchants, have also come out in support of methanol, while in the liner field Maersk has been joined by the likes of CMA CGM and X-Press Feeders. Hong Kong’s Pacific Basin, meanwhile, has got the dry bulk community talking following a recent commitment to develop methanol-fuelled newbuilds in Japan.

Other companies including Waterfront Shipping, Proman Stena Bulk, NYK and MOL have built a series of methanol carriers that use a segregated portion of the cargo as fuel.