Methanol-ready ONE Sparkle marks Latin America debut with inaugural port call

ONE Sparkle, the 13,800 TEU methanol-ready containership owned by Singapore’s maritime transportation player Ocean Network Express (ONE), recently made its inaugural port call in Ecuador.

As part of its maiden journey to Latin America, ONE Sparkle made it to Terminal Portuario de Guayaquil (TPG), operated by SAAM Terminals, thus marking the next chapter of the partnership between the Singaporean shipping company and TPG.

During the call in Guayaquil, the boxship will handle around 5,000 container moves, including nearly one thousand refrigerated export containers. That said, representatives from TPG have revealed that the ship itself can handle nearly 2,500 refrigerated container connections.

According to TPG, ONE Sparkle is a ‘new generation’ of energy-efficient, eco-friendly ships. The vessel is part of the AX3 service, connecting ‘key’ ports in the Pacific Ocean, with stops in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala (Puerto Quetzal), Colombia (Buenaventura), Peru (Callao), and Panama (Rodman).

The HD Hyundai-built ship is also said to be the first unit featuring technologies that enable operations with methanol and ammonia, as well as connection with shore power emission-reducing systems, which ONE will incorporate into its global fleet.

To remind, the Singapore-flagged ONE Sparkle is part of a series of 20 large vessels that are under construction in South Korea and Japan, with handovers staggered between 2025 and 2026. The christening ceremony for the newbuilding was in February this year. Its manager is OneSea Solutions, a ship management company jointly owned by ONE and Canada’s Seaspan Corporation.

In addition to this, from 2027, Ocean Network Express will gear up to welcome a dozen 13,000 TEU container vessels, for which the company placed an order in mid-January last year.

As informed, these units represent ONE’s ‘first-ever’ fleet of methanol-powered newbuilds fitted with a dual-fuel propulsion system. They are currently under construction at China’s Jiangnan Shipyard and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.