/INS. In a move that positions it to displace Hapag-LLoyd as the world’s fifth largest box ship operator Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corporation is betting billions on methanol-fueling, placing orders for 24 methanol dual fueled 16,000 TEU containerships, split between two Asian shipyards. At 16,000 TEU, the ships are larger than anything Evergreen Marine Asia currently lists in its fleet, the largest of which come in at 8,508 TEU.

The orders accelerate the trend to methanol a marine fuel seen in the latest figures from DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight (AFI) platform, which showed that the 55 vessels with alternative fuel propulsion ordered in June included 26 for LNG fueled vessels and 29 for methanol powered vessels (including retrofits).

The orders were disclosed in two Taiwan Stock Exchange announcements filed July 11 that said no more than the minimum required. In them, Evergreen announced that its Singapore-based Evergreen Marine Asia subsidiary has ordered 16 x 16,000 TEU methanol dual fuel containerships from Samsung Heavy Industries at a cost of between $2,880 million and 3,360 million and a further 8 of the same capacity from Japan’s Nihon Shipyard Co. Ltd. at a cost of between $1,440 million and $1,680 billion.

That puts Evergreen Marine’s bet on methanol at a minimum of $4.24 billion. The filings made no mention of when the vessels would be delivered, or whether the methanol would be green.

On its website Evergreen states that “In looking to the future, Evergreen will continue to implement various environmental protection measures across its operations, periodically report its emission inventory, and monitor the progress of its carbon reduction efforts, with an aim to reach carbon neutral operation by 2050. If there are further advances in shipping technology and clean energy development in the future, Evergreen will also be committed to achieving its vision of realizing zero carbon emissions.”