Evergreen, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners team up to explore green shipping fuels

The MOU was signed by Eric Hsieh, president of Evergreen Marine Corp., and Marina Hsu, managing director of Copenhagen Infrastructure Service Co. Taiwan. (Photo: Evergreen Marine Corp.)

Evergreen Marine Corp. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly explore production and usage of carbon-neutral eFuels.

CIP has signed the MOU on behalf of its Energy Transition Fund.

With more than 200 container vessels deployed around the world, Evergreen is among the 10-biggest container-shipping companies globally.

Decarbonization of such an operation is a major undertaking and may require a range of different fuel types. To explore and potentially develop these, Evergreen is teaming up with CIP.

The cooperation will have several aspects including production of eFuels in Taiwan based on offshore wind, but also exploration of a broader supply of green fuels such as e-ammonia and e-methanol.

Taiwan plays a vital role in the global supply chains not only as a producer, but also as a container-ship operator, controlling about 10 percent of the world’s container-shipping fleet.

Taiwan has good conditions for offshore wind and with a growing government support for decarbonization it has the potential to become a producer of future fuels, according to CIP.

CIP is currently constructing and developing several offshore wind farms in Taiwan with strong ties to Taiwanese industries and society.

“ETF is the world’s largest fund dedicated to investing and developing advanced energy technology, which supports the transition to renewable energy,” said Felix Pahl, a CIP partner. “CIP already has a strong footprint in Taiwan, and we are looking forward to working with Evergreen to further support Taiwan’s ambition of realizing its 2050 net-zero goal.”

Evergreen said that its collaboration with CIP represents a further step in the company’s strategy to achieve its carbon-reduction goals.

Aligned with the International Maritime Organization's target for shipping of net-zero carbon emissions, Evergreen aims to achieve this goal by 2050.

The partnership with CIP will support Evergreen in exploring and developing the low-carbon fuel solutions required.

Founded in 2012, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind.

The funds managed by CIP focus on investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X.

CIP manages 10 funds and has to date raised approximately 25 billion euros (USD$26.6 billion) for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 150 international institutional investors.