World’s first methanol-powered Newcastlemax bulker wins ABS approval

Classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has granted approval in principle (AIP) to CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding CO., LTD and China Ship Design & Research Center Co., Ltd (CSDC) for the world’s first methanol-powered Newcastlemax bulk carrier.

The dual-fuel, 210,000 dwt vessel is also equipped with the methanol tank capacity to fully meet endurance requirements on methanol fuel alone.

“Methanol as marine fuel is a promising fuel with the potential to support the industry’s journey to low- and zero-carbon operations,” Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President, Global Engineering and Technology, said.

“ABS is involved in multiple methanol-fueled projects… We are pleased to use our insight and experience to support this innovative bulk carrier design.”

“As early as 2016, CSDC realized the feasibility of methanol as a decarbonization fuel for ships and carried out relevant design and research continuously. In the research and development of this ship, we used our knowledge and experiences to make the ship have a good technical maturity and high reliability,” Yu Dexin, General Manager of CSDC, commented.

Earlier this year, ABS, together with Singapore’s ship owner and operator SDTR Marine and China’s ship design institute Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) introduced an 85,000 dwt methanol-fuelled bulk carrier design.

With this design, the three companies aim to help decarbonise the shipping sector and speed up its transition to alternative marine fuels such as methanol.