MAN Energy Solutions has signed a cooperation agreement with DP World, the leading provider of smart logistics solutions. Effective immediately, the agreement targets common progress in the field of decarbonisation and is scheduled to run for five years with an option to extend thereafter.

Wayne Jones OBE – Chief Sales Officer, and Gaby Hanna – Senior Vice President and Head of Region – Middle East & Africa, acted as signatories for MAN Energy Solutions; while Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem – Group Chairman & CEO, signed on behalf of DP World.

“To achieve net zero emissions, we must recognize the importance of taking urgent and immediate steps to decarbonize shipping and the way to do that is by identifying opportunities to forge partnerships with leading industry players and governments to develop solutions that will allow us to reap tangible results.” Said Captain Rado Antolovic,PhD, CEO, Drydocks World.

Jones said: “We have worked closely with DP World on many projects over the years and are very happy to enter into this formal agreement. In the transition towards a carbon-neutral future, we aim to achieve sustainable value-creation by addressing the challenges inherent to the marine, energy and industrial sectors. Ultimately, we intend to develop pioneering solutions to the issues posed by decarbonisation and will work with selected partners to achieve this.”

Agreement purpose and scope

Mutual areas of interest for the two companies include green-fuels infrastructure, future-proof conversions (LNG, methanol, ammonia, etc.), hybrid drives, electric engines R&D and training, and investigation of their respective, global footprints to further reduce the environmental impact of shipping traffic in terms of fuel consumption and emissions.

Unifeeder

MAN Energy Solutions has previously collaborated with the DP World Group on many occasions. The most recent of these was in September 2021 when the ‘ElbBLUE’, a containership operated by charterer Unifeeder – part of the DP World Group – bunkered 20 tons of green SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas) at Brunsbüttel, Germany. In a first for commercial shipping, the fuel was generated from 100% renewable energy via power-to-X technology.

Formerly known as the ‘Wes Amelie’, the 1,036-teu feeder container ship previously made headlines in 2017 when its MAN 8L48/60B main engine was retrofitted to its current, four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit to enable dual-fuel operation. The first such conversion of its type globally, it showed that existing engines could be converted to LNG operation with a tremendous effect on exhaust emissions and the environment.

The Maritime Energy Transition

MAN Energy Solutions believes that it is time for what it calls a ‘Maritime Energy Transition’ to find clean, decarbonised solutions for seaborne trade and transportation. Essentially, it is the company’s call to action to reduce emissions and establish zero-carbon fuels as the fuels of choice in global shipping. It strongly promotes a common approach by the shipping industry and politics to invest in infrastructure development and retrofits.