After the shipping giant Maersk unveiled the world's first container vessel running on almost emission-free green methanol, company CEO Vincent Clerc told CGTN that transitioning the entire maritime industry to a green methanol solution would "put a strain on the availability of biogenic CO2 that is necessary to produce this fuel."
Other industry executives previously warned that it will take years for green methanol output to meet demand and for its elevated cost to fall.
Clerc added that fuels such as ammonia that are not ready to be scaled today but that will be ready to be scaled in the near future "will probably at some point provide a better business case for the rest of the transformation."
Swiss-born Vincent Clerc has been at the steering wheel at Maersk for nine months. /CGTN/Dworschak
In the next seven years, however, Maersk plans to extend the green methanol technology to a quarter of its fleet. The first vessel to run on this fuel was named 'Laura Maersk' by European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen at Copenhagen's port on Thursday.
"I wish you god-speed," Von der Leyen said during the presentation of the 21-hundred-container feeder. Speed that doesn't come at the cost of high emissions. Compared to conventional fuels such as oil, green methanol can emit up to 95 percent less CO2 and is an important step to decarbonize the heavily polluting freight sector.
Journalists and guests from across the globe participated at the festive inauguration of Laura Maersk in Copenhagen. /CGTN/Dworschak
It doesn't come without complications, however. The liquid produced from renewable sources such as wood or organic waste is expensive, flammable and scarce.
Maersk CEO Clerc is optimistic saying that fuel production will rapidly increase, triggered by his green vessel order. And while methanol-powered ships cost about 11 percent more than conventional vessels, Maersk expects the price difference to shrink once production becomes more efficient.
Green methanol emits only very little CO2, while gray methanol from natural gas is heavily polluting. /CGTN/Dworschak
Despite the different fuel, the feeder vessel doesn't require special handling. "The main differences in running a vessel on methanol or dual fuel is in thehandling of the methanol fuel," chief engineer Flemming Sogaard Christensen told CGTN during a vessel tour. "Apart from that it's more or less business as usual."
'Laura Maersk' is the first of 25 green methanol vessels ordered by shipping giant Maersk. The Danish company has one of the most ambitious emission reduction targets in the industry - net zero by 2040.