Kathmandu. China has taken a major step forward in maritime trade and green technology with the completion of the world’s largest methanol dual fuel container ship. The ship departed from Nantong city in east China’s Jiangsu Province on Thursday for sea trials.
According to Chinese state media Xinhua, the ship was built by the Nantong Kosco Bay Ship Engineering Company. It is currently the world’s largest methanol dual-fuel container ship.
The length of the ship is 399.99 meters. That’s roughly the same length as 4 football fields. It is 61.3 meters wide and 33.2 meters deep. The ship’s deadweight tonnage is 225,000 tonnes and can carry 24,168 standard containers at a time. It is said to be the largest ship of its class.
The most important feature of the ship is its state-of-the-art methanol dual-fuel system, the company’s representative Zhang Haidong was quoted as saying by the Global Times. It has the world’s largest methanol dual-fuel main engine, auxiliary engine and boiler system. This allows the ship to seamlessly switch between methanol and conventional fuels as needed.
According to experts, if the ship is powered by green methanol, it can reduce about 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. In addition, sulfur oxide emissions will virtually be eliminated, and nitrogen oxide emissions will be significantly reduced. This is seen as a major step towards the decarbonisation goals of the global shipping industry.
After completion of sea trials, the ship will be deployed to international shipping routes. China claims that it will provide a new impetus to the green and low-carbon transition of the global maritime industry.
Meanwhile, according to data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China ranked first in the world in all three major shipbuilding indicators in the first quarter of 2026. During this period, 15.6 million deadweight tons were built in China. This is 46 percent more than the previous year. –Agency
