The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) is looking to roll out green methanol bunkering services before 2027, which was the initially expected timeline, Al Mal quotes SCZone chief Walid Gamal El Din as saying. The SCZone is looking to expand the scope of its bunkering services in the near future, he added, indicating that the authority has received hurried requests for services to supply ships with green methanol and green gas products.

Egypt is getting the first green methanol plant in the region soon: Norway’s Scatec and Alexandria National Refining & Petrochemicals Company (ANRPC) inked a USD 450 mn agreement in May to establish a green methanol plant in Damietta, Egypt. The facility is slated to start off producing 40k tons of green methanol a year, before being scaled up to 200k tons.

Green methanol has been getting a lot of attention lately as a sustainable fuel that can help decarbonize the maritime shipping industry, with shipping giant Maersk reportedly holding talks with the SCZone for bunkering services to power its up-and-coming green methanol-powered vessels.

SCZone’s bunkering services have been taking off: May saw the SCZone begin rolling out bunkering services at its ports, with Minerva Bunkering fulfilling its first fuel deliveries to ships that same month. Last week saw the services debut at Sokhna port, with an operation that saw supply ship Karpathos supply fuel to container ship CMA CGM Suez. SCZone first made public plans to roll out new marine services — including bunkering and catering — back in January, as part of its 2020-2050 strategy.

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