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The Danish company has vowed to only order new vessels which can use carbon-neutral fuel as it seeks to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050. As vessels typically have a lifetime of 20-35 years, this means it must have a carbon-neutral fleet by 2030.
The eight vessels, which can each carry 16,000 containers, will be build by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and are expected to be delivered by 2024.
Maersk said more than half of its 200 largest customers, such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Disney and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), had set or were in the process of setting targets to cut emissions in their supply chain.
“This order proves that carbon-neutral solutions are available today across container vessel segments and that Maersk stands committed to the growing number of our customers who look to decarbonise their supply chains,” said Maersk CEO Soren Skou in a statement.
With around 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions.
The new vessels will be fitted with engines which can run on both green methanol, which is produced by using renewable sources such as biomass and solar energy, as well as normal bunker fuel as there is still not enough carbon-neutral fuel available in the market.
The Danish firm said this month it had signed a contract securing green methanol to operate its first carbon-neutral ship in 2023 in a first step to tackle the challenges in securing the adequate supply.
