Decarbonization of shipping companies is already a fact

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Maersk will have in Spain One of its main global green methanol production hubs, the biggest commitment to decarbonise its fleet. The Danish giant, one of the largest shipping companies on the planet, will invest 10,000 million euros For the development of two centers for the production of “five or six” of these carbon neutral fuels in Andalusia and Galicia to meet their enormous energy needs.

Both methanol production hubs, an essential ingredient for green hydrogen, will be Maersk’s second and third globally, after Egypt, which was announced in March. The project, which was agreed from beginning to end with the Spanish government, will have European funds – not specified yet – and the executive authorities do not rule out even participating as an investor, which would be news. According to government sources, between 4500 and 5000 direct jobs Which will be created at both locations, to which another 40,000 will be added indirectly and about 35,000 or 40,000 in the construction phase alone.

The CEO and Maersk signed a memorandum of cooperation outlining the project following a meeting between Pedro Sánchez and the Nordic company’s CEO Søren Skow, which was also attended by the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda. Raquel Sánchez and Secretary General of the Presidency of the Government for Economic Affairs and G20 Manuel de la Rocha.

“This is a strategic project for the country: In the future, sea routes will be reconfigured around large hubs that will supply ships with green fuel, and only countries that bet on its production will be well positioned.. It is very important for Spain to be in the first division of marine fuel,” explained these sources, who called in June to reveal more details about the project, which also involves Andalusia and the Junta de Galicia.

Producing methanol that carries the green name (and is close to carbon neutral) requires two ingredients: green hydrogen—a very electricity-intensive gas from wind or solar sources—and biogenic CO2—often captured in biomass plants. —. And on both fronts, Spain has all the signs of becoming a continental and even global power. The coalition executive is relying on a recent study by investment bank Goldman Sachs to confirm that Spain is the most competitive country in Europe in the production of green hydrogen, a gas that is not yet profitable but is based on much of the expectation. Decarbonization of sectors – heavy industry – or areas – aviation, maritime transport – where electrification is not possible in the short term.

The energy needed for the electrolysis process—which produces green hydrogen—is generated in wind and solar farms that Maersk is promoting, either through direct ownership or through long-term supply contracts (PPAs, in industry jargon). “They want to run the whole process, control the whole methanol production chain,” they note from an executive who calculates that The shipping company will need “20 to 80 new wind or solar farms. In 2030, when the two methanol plants are operating at 100% of their production capacity – at least on paper – the Danish firm will need four gigawatts of installed capacity for the process. To do so, it will purchase facilities already in operation or in the process of processing and build new ones, preferably near the two production centers.

“They guarantee a month’s worth of land to build these facilities. They put the numbers together and they come out,” the above-mentioned sources write. It will also sign PPAs with energy companies operating outside Andalusia and Galicia. Maersk – with more than 100,000 employees, a fleet of 730 freighters and a market share of up to 20% – and Spain’s executive management aim for 12 million tonnes of green methanol produced domestically. Needing its fleet at the end of the decade, two abandon its Spanish plants.

The development of both consists of three stages: in 2025 only one of them – it is not yet known, Andalusian or Galician – will produce about 200,000 tons; In 2027, the sum of both – by then the second one should have already entered into operation, according to preliminary information, will be about one million tons, and in 2030, two million tons.

Maersk and the government are aware of technological uncertainty and that Green methanol is just one of two options that have the most potential to decarbonize barges that carry containers around the world—the other being ammonia, which is also produced from green hydrogen.. For this reason, both have left the door open so that, depending on how the market develops, their infrastructure in Spain is redirected to the second alternative. “Methanol seems to be the one that succeeds. However, between the first and the second phase, a decision will be made whether the second plant will be on this or that fuel,” said one of the representatives of the executive authority. The maritime sector is one of the most polluting economic sectors and therefore changing this dynamic is essential to achieve decarbonisation goals. Maersk is committed to being a net zero emissions company by 2040, which means scrapping or upgrading its entire fleet (more than 700 vessels) currently powered by fossil fuel engines. Spain will play a central role in this bet.