REINTEGRATE, a subsidiary of the Danish renewable energy company European Energy is to partner with Maersk to produce green fuel for Maersk’s first vessel to operate on carbon-neutral methanol.

REintegrate and European Energy are to establish a new Danish facility to produce approximately 10,000 tonnes of carbon neutral e-methanol for the new vessel.

A.P. Moller – Maersk CEO of fleet and strategic brands Henriette Hallberg Thygesen said this type of partnership could become a blueprint for how to scale green fuel production through collaboration with partners.

“It will provide us with valuable experiences as we are progressing on our journey to decarbonise our customers’ supply chains,” she said.

“Sourcing the fuels of the future is a significant challenge, and we need to be able to scale production in time. This agreement with European Energy/REintegrate brings us on track to deliver on our ambition to have the world’s first container vessel operated on carbon neutral methanol on the water by 2023.”

The methanol facility will use renewable energy and biogenic carbon dioxide to produce the e-methanol. The fuel production is expected to start in 2023.

The energy needed for the power-to-methanol production will be provided by

A solar farm in Kassø, Southern Denmark is to provide the energy need for the power-to-methanol production.

REintegrate has a track record for producing green e-methanol in its test laboratory in Aalborg. The new facility will be its third e-methanol facility.

European Energy CEO Knud Erik Andersen said, “We’re proud to be a part of the first large scale e-methanol production in Denmark. While renewable energy is becoming more and more common in the energy mix of electricity consumption, this is one of the first steps in heavy transportation towards using 100% renewable energy. This agreement marks a milestone in the journey towards green transition in the shipping industry”.

While the renewable energy will be produced in Southern Jutland it is yet to be decided where in Denmark the power-to-methanol facility will be located.

Maersk announced the dual fuel vessel in February 2021. In June, Maersk announced that Hyundai Mipo Dockyards will be building the 2100-TEU feeder.

The world’s first methanol feeder will be 172 metres long and it is expected to join the Maersk fleet in mid-2023. It will sail in the network of Sealand Europe, a Maersk subsidiary, on the Baltic shipping route between Northern Europe and the Bay of Bothnia. It will fly the Danish flag.