Danish shipping giant Maersk has announced it will test a blend of 50% ethanol with 50% methanol on its dual-fuel vessel Laura Maersk. This follows an initial trial involving a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol, which the company carried out in October and November. The trial tested parameters including ignition, combustion, lubricity, corrosiveness and emissions. It confirmed that ethanol can be blended with methanol safely and without compromising engine performance, thereby showing the potential to create ‘greater optionality’ for Maersk’s dual-fuel methanol fleet, the company said in a statement published today (5 December). ‘Ethanol has a proven track […]

The ocean freight intelligence platform Xeneta has said that the announcement by CMA CGM that its INDAMEX service will transit Suez Canal on fronthaul and backhaul voyages between India/Pakistan and US East Coast is ‘a notable step towards a largescale return of container ships to the Red Sea region’. The first vessel to complete a full service loop via Suez Canal will be CMA CGM VERDI, sailing from Karachi to New York on 15 January. In a statement sent to ship.energy today (5 December), Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta, said: ‘We are still some way from a largescale return […]

The introduction of sulphur emissions regulations has ‘significantly reduced sulphur emissions from ships,’ a study led by researchers from the Department of Chemistry at the University of York and National Centre for Atmospheric Science has confirmed. The research, published in Environmental Science: Atmospheres, used aircraft and ground-based instruments to measure sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted by ships in the North-East Atlantic and European coastal waters between 2019 and 2023. ‘The team found that the average sulphur content in ship fuel dropped nearly tenfold in open ocean areas following the International Maritime Organization’s 2020 regulation, which capped sulphur content in marine […]