Hapag-Lloyd signs long-term purchase agreement for green methanol

Hapag-Lloyd has signed a contract with Goldwind, a clean energy partner headquartered in Beijing, China, to transport 250,000 tons of green methanol per year.

The green methanol will be a combination of bio- and e-methanol, resulting in at least a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while meeting all existing sustainability certification standards.

Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG, said: “As part of our 2030 strategy, we are fully committed to the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement and thus also to sustainable investments.” With the agreement we are securing one a significant part of our need for green fuels.

“This takes us an important step closer to our goal of achieving net-zero fleet operations by 2045. It is and remains our goal to play a leading role in the transformation of the liner shipping industry.”

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By 2030, Hapag-Lloyd expects to reduce the fleet’s absolute greenhouse gas emissions by around a third compared to 2022.

Compared to conventional fuels, the required amount of green methanol can save up to 400,000 tons of CO2e emissions in fleet operations per year.

Goldwind intends to build a new green methanol production facility alongside its existing project in Hinggan League, China. Meanwhile, Goldwind will deliver the first quantities from 2026.

Wu Gang, Chairman of Goldwind, said: “We are grateful for the opportunity to become a strong decarbonization partner of Hapag-Lloyd, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality ahead of the shipping industry’s goals and is closely aligned with Goldwind’s corporate vision.”

Among other things, the five 10,100 TEU charter ships that Hapag-Lloyd and Seaspan will convert to suitable methanol dual-fuel propulsion in 2026 will run on green methanol.

Hapag-Lloyd recently published its results for the first nine months of 2024, recording a consolidated profit of 1.7 billion euros (US$1.8 billion).