COPENHAGEN: The world`s first commercial-scale e-methanol plant began operations in Denmark on Tuesday, with shipping giant Maersk set to buy part of the production as a low-emission fuel for itsneetofcontainerships.

The shipping sector is under pressure to find new sources of fuel af ter a majority of countries gave their bacl(ing to measures to help meet the International Maritime Organisation`s targets towards eliminating carbon emissions by 2050.

So far zero-emission shipping fuels, such as green ammonia and e-methanol, which are produced using renewable energy, have tended to be more expensive than conventional fuel largely because they are not produced at scale.

`We expect that we will have a price parity with fossil methanol around 2035, Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of Denmark`sEuropean Energy, said.

Located in Kasso in southern Denmark, the new plant, which has cost an estimated 150 million euros ($167 million), will produce 42,000 metric tons, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, its joint owners Denmark`s European Energy and Japan`s Mitsui said.

Maersk will be a major customer of the Kasso plant. It operates 13 dual-fuel methanol container vessels that can be powered with fuel oil and with e-methanol and has ordered another 13 of the vessels.

It said, the plant`s annual production is enough to power one large 16,000 container vessel sailing between Asia and Europe. For the smaller Laura Maersk, the world`s first dual-fuel container ship, with a capacity of more than 2,100 twentyfoot equivalent units, requires only 3,600 tons of fuel per year.-Reuters