Proman Stena Bulk, a joint venture between global methanol producer Proman and tanker shipping company Stena Bulk, said today that it has become the first to load vessels with methanol as a bunker fuel in Ulsan, South Korea.
The two vessels, the Stena Pro Patria and Stena Pro Marine, were refuelled with over 2,000t of methanol. Proman Stena Bulk said the bunkering was carried out despite South Korea not being a methanol producing country and neither vessel carrying methanol as cargo.
The company said that global uptake of methanol as a marine fuel is "aided by its current availability across 120 ports worldwide" including bunkering hubs such as Singapore, Algeciras, Houston and Rotterdam. Proman Stena Bulk said the profile of methanol as a viable marine fuel is strengthened by the relative ease with which it can utilise existing bunkering infrastructure.
Stena Bulk announced this year that it has taken delivery of the first two of the six methanol-fuelled medium-range (MR) tankers it has ordered.
Methanol is one of a number of alternative marine-fuel options under consideration in efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the shipping sector.
South Korea is one of the largest bunker supply hubs and producers of very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) in Asia, with most bunkering taking place in the country's southern ports of Ulsan and Busan. There is no official data on the country's bunker demand, but market participants estimated last December that 2021 sales were around 800,000-850,000 t/month, of which about 590,000 t/month was VLSFO.
