Shipping: Container ship "Laura-Maersk" refuels with e-methanol in Kasso, Denmark

Christened in September 2023, on the docks of Copenhagen, by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Laura-Maersk has since been making round trips between Denmark and Germany. At 172 meters long and 32 meters wide, the container ship can carry up to 32,000 tons of cargo, a microscopic fraction of the capacity of Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, the world's second largest shipping company, with a 17% market share, behind the Italian-Swiss group MSC. On Tuesday, May 13, however, the ship inscribed its name in the history of the company, founded in 1904.

While docked in the small port of Aabenraa in southern Denmark, half a million liters of e-methanol, a synthetic fuel made from "low-carbon" hydrogen about fifteen kilometers away at the Kasso plant, were loaded onto the ship, which will refuel there every three months. This event represents a crucial step in the decarbonization of the Danish giant's fleet, whose goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

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