China completes first green methanol bunkering of international bulker

China has completed its first green methanol bunkering of an international-voyage bulk carrier, supplying 1,021 tonnes to the Liberian-flagged Green Future at Guangzhou Port on September 6, according to Guangzhou Port Group.

The ship-to-ship transfer was carried out by the 109.9-metre, 7,500-dwt Daqing 268 at the port’s Dayushan anchorage. The operation was also the first methanol ship-to-ship bunkering carried out at an anchorage in Guangdong province. The transfer took about 10 hours, with Guangzhou maritime officials monitoring the operation using vessel traffic and maritime supervision systems, and patrol craft controlling traffic around the bunkering area.

The fuel was Chinese-produced pure biomass-based methanol manufactured at CIMC Enric’s plant in Zhanjiang, Guangdong.

Daqing 268 entered service in January 2026 as China’s first methanol dual-fuel bunker vessel. It can operate on methanol or conventional fuel and had previously been deployed for green methanol bunkering in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. It is operated by Sinopec-COSCO Shipping Fuel Supply.

Green Future is a roughly 65,700-dwt methanol dual-fuel Ultramax owned by Japanese shipowner Kambara Kisen and time-chartered by NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers. Delivered in May 2025, the vessel is the first bulk carrier in the NYK Group fitted with a dual-fuel engine capable of burning methanol and conventional fuel oil. The Guangzhou operation was not Green Future’s first methanol bunkering; the vessel received low-carbon methanol in a ship-to-ship transfer at Ulsan, South Korea, on September 28, 2025.

Marine fuel bunkering volumes at Guangzhou Port anchorages rose by more than 114% year on year in the first eight months of 2026.

Guangzhou Port Group is a wholly state-owned Chinese port group established in 2004 after the restructuring of the former Guangzhou Harbor Bureau.