[MARITIME HIGHLIGHTS AND INSIGHTS] LAURA MAERSK NAMING MARKS NEW METHANOL ERA

Today is a banner day on Maersk’s decarbonisation path with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, in Copenhagen for the naming of the Laura Maersk, the first in a series of methanol-powered boxships Maersk has contracted yards in South Korea to build.

The 2,100 teu Laura Maersk was built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. It will serve trades in the Baltic area. The ship’s name is a nod to the Laura steamship, the first vessel to bear the white seven-pointed star Maersk emblem back in the 1880s.

Also in attendance at the Danish capital was Greg Dolan, CEO of the Methanol Institute, who commented that today’s naming ceremony serves as a demonstration that the shipping industry is embracing methanol as a sustainable fuel fit for the energy transition.

Aware of the rising demand for methanol – not just in shipping, but from other industries – Maersk has been beefing up its global access to the fuel.

“Replacing the existing use of fossil methanol with green methanol, and also meeting the growing demand from the use of green methanol as a fuel, requires a step change in the global production capacity of non-fossil methanol,” A.P. Moller Holding, Maersk’s investment arm, stated in a release today.

Towards 2050, the annual demand for methanol could triple to some 300m tonnes, according to Maersk projections.

Applauding Maersk’s industry-leading ship naming ceremony today, Andrew Craig-Bennett, Splash’s lead columnist, wrote: “Maersk is to be commended because behind this ship it has another 20 green methanol burners planned and on order. It is doing the right thing and is showing up everyone else. But for every Maersk there will be 20 owners thinking about how to dodge the new regulations once the regulations are promulgated.”

Cre: Splash247

[MARITIME HIGHLIGHTS AND INSIGHTS] Maersk and MSC to terminate 2M alliance in 2025

2M alliance will no longer exist after two years as its members, MSC and Maersk have mutually agreed to terminate its partnership in January 2025.

In a joint statement, the chief executive officers of Maersk and MSC, Vincent Clerc and Soren Toft, commented, “MSC and Maersk recognise that much has changed since the two companies signed the 10-year agreement in 2015. Discontinuing the 2M alliance paves the way for both companies to continue to pursue their individual strategies. “

The two companies noticed that the announcement about the termination of the 2M alliance has no immediate impact on the services provided to customers using the 2M trades. 

 

Each company’s customer teams will communicate with their respective clients to support during, and beyond, the phase-out of the 2M alliance,”, said the joint statement.

2M alliance is a container shipping line vessel-sharing agreement (VSA), which was introduced in 2015 by Maersk and MSC and has a minimum term of 10 years with a two-year notice period of termination. 

Cre: Container News

[MARITIME HIGHLIGHTS AND INSIGHTS] China remains an important market for Vietnamese agricultural products

Export of agricultural products to northern neighbor hits $6 billion last year. 

China is still the largest importer of Vietnamese agricultural products and accounts for more than half of all such exports, according to the Director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Center of Ho Chi Minh city (ITPC) Tran The Lu.

Speaking at a conference on June 16 on improving food quality products shipped to China, Mr. Lu said its reopening helps exports of Vietnamese agricultural products recover.

The export of fruit and vegetables to China in the first four months reached $804.6 million, a year-on-year increase of 28 percent and accounting for a market share of 58.6 per cent.

Vietnam currently ranks tenth among countries exporting farm produce to China, with turnover from such shipments exceeding $6 billion last year but accounting for only some 2.6 per cent of China’s total agricultural import value.

Chairman of the 365 Group Dinh Vinh Cuong said experts consider China the largest destination of Vietnamese agricultural products given global inflation, its surging demand, close geographical proximity, and lower logistics costs and risks compared to other markets.

Vietnam officially exports 13 key agricultural products to China.

In order to turn exports into a greater opportunity, Mr. Cuong suggested developing a strategic plan for the industry and building brands and large-scale specialized productions and concentrated farming areas based on market signals.

It is also important to devise logistics strategy and establish agricultural product storage facilities in border localities, he said.

Cre: Vietnam Economics Times