Shipping giant Maersk has successfully launched its first feeder vessel powered by methanol at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, on its way to cut carbon emissions.

The feeder was launched on 4 April by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea.

The ship, which will join the fleet in the summer of this year, is the shipping heavyweight’s first carbon-neutral vessel.

The ship was ordered in 2021 and has a capacity of about 2,000 TEU.

Although the ship will be able to run on regular very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), it will first be run on carbon-neutral e-methanol or sustainable bio-methanol.

The vessel’s main and auxiliary engines can both run on green methanol.

Henrik Ekmann, Head of Newbuilding & Retrofit at Maersk said: “The launching was successfully completed at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and the construction is continuing.”

“Launching these mega structures takes precision and care, extensive product and design development from a large number of key suppliers and driven forward by our Procurement and Fleet Technology teams.”

This milestone comes less than a month after Maersk signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) on strategic cooperation for Shanghai port’s methanol marine fuel project.

In the same week, WinGD announced that it will supply 10X92DF-M methanol-fuelled engines to four 16,000 TEU containerships for COSCO SHIPPING Lines.