DP World on Tuesday, October 12, signed a cooperation agreement with MAN Energy Solutions of Germany for maritime energy transition, according to an official statement.
The agreement is scheduled to run for five years with an option to extend thereafter.
As a result of the agreement, both parties will now eye common progress in the field of decarbonization.
Mutual areas of interest for the two companies include green-fuels infrastructure, future-proof conversions (LNG, methanol, ammonia, etc.), hybrid drives, electric engines R&D and training, and investigation of their respective, global footprints to further reduce the environmental impact of shipping traffic in terms of fuel consumption and emissions.
Wayne Jones OBE, Chief Sales Officer, and Gaby Hanna, Senior Vice-President and Head of Region, Middle East & Africa, acted as signatories for MAN Energy Solutions.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman & CEO, signed on behalf of DP World.
The ceremony was attended by Mohammed Al Muallem, Executive Vice-President of DP World, and Captain Rado Antolovic, CEO of Drydocks World, a company of DP World.
MAN Energy Solutions has collaborated with the DP World Group on several occasions.
The most recent of these was in September 2021 when the ElbBLUE, a containership operated by charterer Unifeeder – part of the DP World Group – bunkered 20 tons of green SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas) at Brunsbüttel, Germany.
In a first for commercial shipping, the fuel was generated from 100 percent renewable energy via power-to-X technology.
Formerly known as the Wes Amelie, the 1,036-teu feeder container ship had made headlines in 2017 when its MAN 8L48/60B main engine was retrofitted to its current four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit to enable dual-fuel operation.
The first such conversion of its type globally, it showed that existing engines could be converted to LNG operation with a tremendous effect on exhaust emissions and the environment.