A.P. Moller – Maersk engages in green bio-methanol partnership with Debo

August 19, 2022

Following the announcement of six strategic green methanol partnerships across the globe earlier this year, A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) adds a seventh methanol partnership with Chinese bioenergy enterprise Debo on the quest to boost global production capacity.

The parties have signed a Letter of Intent covering Debo’s plans to develop a bio-methanol project for Maersk in China with capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year to start commercial operation by fall 2024.

Maersk has set an ambitious end-to-end net-zero goal for 2040 and the availability of green methanol at scale is critical to our fleet’s transition to sustainable energy. Partnerships across ecosystems and geographies are essential for the scale-up needed in order to make meaningful progress on this agenda already in this decade. Therefore, we are delighted to welcome Debo on this journey.

Berit Hinnemann

Head of Green Fuels Sourcing, A.P. Moller – Maersk.

The feedstock for the green bio-methanol will be agricultural residues. Maersk intends to offtake the full volume produced.

The use of green methanol as marine fuel to replace the existing fossil fuel is groundbreaking in the container shipping history and will strongly promote the development of green shipping. It is a great honor for Debo to work with A.P. Moller – Maersk to promote the commercialization of the green methanol industrial chain. I firmly believe that through the cooperation, we are able to realize the commercial production and industrial conversion of green methanol and contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Zhang Shoujun

Chairman and General Manager, Debo.

In March, Maersk announced six partnerships with CIMC ENRIC, European Energy, Green Technology Bank, Orsted, Proman, and WasteFuel with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 tonnes/year by end of 2025 – well beyond the green methanol needed for the first 12 green container vessels currently on order.

Production Capacity Estimation Table

Strategic Partners	Type of fuel	Production Capacity in 2024 (end of year) tonnes/year	Production Capacity in 2025 (end of year) tonnes/year	Production capacity added after 2025 tonnes/year	Geography
CIMC ENRIC	bio-methanol	50,000	–	200,000	China
Debo	bio-methanol	200.000	–	–	–
European Energy	e-methanol	–	2-300,000	–	North & South America
GTB	bio-methanol	50,000	–	300,000	China
Orsted	e-methanol	–	300,000	–	North America
Proman	bio & e-methanol	–	100,000	–	North America
WasteFuel	bio-methanol	30,000	–	–	South America
TOTAL	–	330,000	6-700,000	500,000	–