LNG-powered newbuild orders surge

LNG was the most popular alternative fuel for ships ordered in September 2024, according to DNV figures, narrowly beating the only other alternative fuel for vessels ordered in the month - methanol.

Nine LNG-fuelled vessels and eight powered by methanol were ordered in September, according to the class society’s Alternative Fuels Insights platform. For the year to the end of September, orders for LNG-capable ships rose by 57% on-year to 169, while methanol orders slipped by 1% to 133 vessels.

Figures for both fuel types exclude ready notations, and the LNG figures exclude LNG carriers.

The acceleration of orders for LNG-powered ships has reversed a trend seen as recently as May this year, when methanol as a fuel accounted for 8% of new vessels orders in the prior 12 months, compared to 6% for LNG. 

Maersk recently made high-profile orders for LNG-fuelled vessels, breaking from its previous strategy of pursuing methanol as its future fuel of choice.

DNV’s update showed the dominance of conventional fuels in the existing fleet, and the skew within alternatively-fuelled orderbook towards larger ships.

By gross tonnage, some 96.9% of vessels in operation use conventional fuels, or 99.17% by number of ships. LNG leads among alternative fuels in the existing fleet with 2.49% by GT or 0.62% by ship number, over four-times second-place LPG and ten times the size of the methanol fleet.

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Within the orderbook, alternative fuels fare better with 41.89% of the fleet by GT. The 16.85% figure for alternative fuels by ship number shows that their adoption leans towards larger vessels. LNG still leads in the orderbook with 24.3% of ships on order, and methanol following more closely at 14.1%.

Container ships are the main adopters of alternative fuels by ship type in both the existing fleet and orderbook with around 600 vessels total, leading gas tankers with around 280, dominated by LPG fuel, presumably for LPG carriers.