Over 500 Container Ships On Order To Run On Alternative Fuels, BIMCO Says

More than 500 new container ships designed to run on alternative fuels are now on order. BIMCO data shows that by the end of August 2025, 534 container ships are being built to operate on alternative fuels once delivered. These ships account for 53% of all container ships currently on order and represent 77% of the total TEU capacity.

Alongside them, 321 ships will still run on traditional heavy fuel, while 155 are being built so they can be converted to alternative fuels in the future.

The adoption of alternative fuels is particularly strong among the largest container ships. For vessels of 8,000 TEU capacity or more, 81% of ships and 85% of TEU capacity on order are designed to use alternative fuels.

However, other shipping sectors lag behind. In the bulker market, only 8% of orders are for alternative-fueled ships, compared to 17% in crude tankers and 9% in product tankers.

Experts say this may be because bulk and tanker fleets are more fragmented with many small operators, while the container sector is dominated by a few big companies that can afford to invest in alternative technologies.

LNG remains the leading alternative fuel in shipping, accounting for about two-thirds of all vessels currently on order, while methanol-powered vessels account for 31%, after leading orders in 2023.

Currently, LNG is primarily used as a carbon-based fuel, but in the future it could be sourced as low-carbon bio-LNG or synthetic e-fuels.

If no alternatively-fueled ships in service are retired, the global container fleet could reach 837 such vessels by 2030, representing a total capacity of 10.9 million TEU. This would amount to more than 25% of worldwide container capacity once all ships on order are delivered.

Reference: BIMCO