Chinese boxship giant Cosco Shipping Holdings has ordered twelve methanol dual-fuel 24，000 TEU containerships worth nearly $2.9bn.

The order has been spread between its container shipping units， Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and Cosco Shipping Lines， for seven and five ships at $239.85m each.

Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering and Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering， Cosco’s shipbuilding joint ventures with Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries， will build the vessels for delivery between the third quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2028.

The Shanghai-and Hong Kong-listed Cosco Shipping is the third of the top four largest carriers to bet on methanol-fuelled vessels. Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk set the ball rolling last year with 16，000 teu units in South Korea， followed in June this year by France’s CMA CGM with 15，000 teu ships in China. Meanwhile， the world’s biggest liner Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has a large orderbook of LNG dual-fuelled boxships.