Order book shows methanol’s sure rise as a marine fuel

IT COULD be a matter of months before methanol lodges its place as the world’s third-most used marine fuel, after liquefied natural gas (LNG) and conventional fuel oils, according to a new report. This is even as Singapore is still ironing out details for methanol to be bunkered safely here.

Norwegian ship certifier DNV’s latest energy-transition outlook noted that the order book for ships capable of using methanol as fuel is 20 times the gross tonnage of methanol-fuelled ships currently in operation. 

This will push the uptake of methanol to 8 per cent, from 0.05 per cent currently, once the ships are delivered.