Maersk chooses Spain for global green methanol plant

The facilities, which will serve to replace diesel as fuel for their ships, will be located in ports of Andalusia and Galicia, and involves investing 10,000 million until 2030.

The largest shipping company in the world, Maersk, has chosen Spain to locate one of its major strategic global supply points for its ships in which it will replace diesel with green methanol, the alternative that currently has greater projection to reduce the enormous CO2 emissions of its fleet of goods. The company’s plan is to place in two seaports in Andalusia and Galicia this ‘hub’ through which its ships will pass to refuel, although it has not yet specified those points.

This was announced by the company, whose CEO held a meeting this morning with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the Moncloa Palace. Maersk’s final decision comes after several months of talks with the Spanish Executive to which it has proposed an ambitious investment plan that will involve the injection of about 10,000 million euros until 2030, as well as the creation of some 85,000 jobs directly and indirectly around the project.

The idea of the company is to produce about two million tons of green methanol in these new strategic points of Andalusia and Galicia. It would be about 200,000 tons until 2025; one million by 2027; and reach two million by 2030. The group has decided to generate its own green methanol to replace diesel in view of the difficulty in finding partners who are responsible for producing this ecological fuel due to the lack of business alternatives.

In this context, Maersk’s project will not only serve to supply its ships within the different world routes, but will also be responsible for the production of that green methanol through the four gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy that it will also need to produce to generate this fuel. These are up to 80 wind and solar farms that will either acquire or develop in the Peninsula to complete the project. Green methanol to move ships sustainably is produced through green hydrogen mixed with biogetic CO2, which comes out from biomass. This green hydrogen is obtained with energy from renewable power plants.

The negotiations with the Government have resulted in this decision to locate this maritime hub in Spain, waiting for public aid to strengthen the project. The Executive, together with the Ministries of Industry, Transport and Ecological Transition, is assessing whether the company will be able to access part of the European funds for recovery, and even raises the possibility of entering the project with public capital, although they are decisions that must still be evaluated in the coming months.

The one in Spain would be the second major supply point for green methanol for its fleet of vessels, after the one it has already announced that it will install in Egypt. The decision to look towards Andalusia and Galicia responds to what Maersk considers to be the new global maritime routes, highly conditioned by green fuels. Ships will no longer be able to load diesel almost in any port in the world, as was the case until now, but will have to do so in specific areas that will change those world routes.

Maersk has 700 vessels worldwide and a 20% market share.

Only in Spain it has 1,700 direct employees, operates in 12 ports and has five maritime terminals, etc. The firm has committed to decarbonize its operations before 2040, taking into account that fuel costs represent 30% of its ordinary costs.

For the Government, this decision “creates an ecosystem for Spain, the country where the production of green hydrogen will be the most competitive due to the amount of space, sun and wind it has.”

Source: El Comercio