On June 16, Maersk’s second large vessel capable of running on green methanol, Astrid Maersk, made its first stop at the port of Koper in Slovenia. Following on from the Ane Maersk, which launched earlier this year, the Astrid Maersk is an example of Maersk’s commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The vessel operates on route AE12, connecting Asia and Europe, arriving in Koper from Port Said, Egypt, before continuing on to Trieste, Tangier and Singapore.
The Port of Koper, a multi-purpose hub handling various types of cargo, recorded a total throughput of 22.3 million tons in 2023, including more than 1 million TEU and almost 917,000 vehicles. This makes Koper the largest container terminal on the Adriatic and an important automobile terminal in Europe. Over the next five years, the port aims to improve infrastructure, implement smart port technologies and achieve sustainable development, positioning itself as the port of choice on the southern European transport route.
Astrid Maersk is equipped with a modern dual-fuel engine that can run on environmentally friendly methanol, making it the second of 18 such vessels that Maersk plans to add to its fleet by 2025. These vessels have an innovative design that increases cargo capacity and reduces fuel consumption per container.