China’s largest shipowner’s embrace of methanol as a future fuel is deepening. COSCO Shipping has announced four 16,180 teu ships it contracted a sister firm to build will now be converted so that they are methanol duel-fuel vessels. The upgrade is costing the state-owned shipping giant an extra $114m. The vessels were originally contracted with COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) in 2021. 

The latest four vessel conversions take the container division of COSCO to a total of 16 newbuilds that will be methanol dual-fuel. The company is also retrofitting several 13,800 teu and 20,000 teu ships to be methanol dual-fuel. 

COSCO has ordered methanol dual-fuel newbuilds in a variety of sectors including dry bulk, containers and tankers.

In September last year, COSCO, the world’s largest shipowner, teamed with three other Chinese state-run firms – State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC), Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), and China Certification & Inspection Group (CCIC) – to develop a green methanol industrial chain which will comprise the production, transportation, refuelling, and certification of green methanol for ships.