On July 2, M.V. COSCO SHIPPING YANGPU, China’s first methanol dual-fuel containership, completed its maiden voyage to Yangpu Port in Hainan Province and was successfully refueled with green methanol at Yangpu International Container Terminal (YICT). This move opened a new chapter for COSCO SHIPPING in the coordinated development of domestic dual-fuel ships and green fuels, strongly motivating the low-carbon transformation of China’s shipping industry.

On the same day, Hainan Harbor & Shipping International Port and COSCO SHIPPING (Tianjin) signed the “Cooperation Agreement on Building the Green Hub Port of Yangpu in Hainan.”

As China’s first homegrown methanol dual-fuel containership, COSCO SHIPPING YANGPU is built by COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry Yangzhou and currently deployed on COSCO SHIPPING Line’s trans-pacific route. This is the first time that the vessel has called at Yangpu Port and bunkered with green methanol fuel from SINOBUNKER. As the first pilot in China to demonstrate the feasibility of an end-to-end supply chain for production, sales, and use of green methanol derived from urban domestic waste, SINOBUNKER said the main raw materials for this time’s fuel are biogas produced through the fermentation of urban kitchen waste and animal manure, which can achieve resource recycling and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It added that the entire process from collecting biomass raw material to terminal filling was carried out on Hainan Island. This bunkering operation also verifies the feasibility of the integrated “production, supply, storage, and distribution” model for Chinese domestic green methanol, reflecting the harmonious coexistence of shipping and green development.

In April 2025, the Hainan Yangpu Regional International Container Hub Port Expansion Project (Phase I) was completed and operationalized. The expansion project includes one 15,000-ton and one 20,000-ton berth, raising the YICT’s terminal annual design throughput capacity to 3.6 million TEUs. With the capability to accommodate up to 20,000 TEU container vessels, the terminal’s service capability has been significantly boosted, reinforcing its role in accelerating the development of an international shipping hub in Yangpu.

COSCO SHIPPING is fully committed to establishing Yangpu as a key container hub port. Guided by the “dual-center” strategy (i.e., co-developing Yangpu Port with Abu Dhabi port as two international hubs) and the “two-way dual-hub international port” strategy (i.e., building Yangpu as the southern hub for China’s domestic north-south shipping routes and the eastern hub for the east-west shipping routes from Southeast Asia to North America), COSCO SHIPPING is continuously optimizing Yangpu Port’s shipping route network. To date, Yangpu Port has launched 14 foreign trade routes, including 10 routes directly connecting major ASEAN and South Asian markets, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Bangladesh; 1 route to Australia; 2 routes to the U.S.; and 1 route to the Persian Gulf. Additionally, the port operates 8 Chinese domestic trade routes, providing direct linking itself with major Chinese coastal ports such as Qinzhou, Zhanjiang, Nansha, Nantong, Quanzhou, Ningbo, Tianjin, and Yingkou.

COSCO SHIPPING YANGPU has an overall length of 366 meters and width of 51 meters, as well as a maximum container capacity of 16,136 TEUs. The vessel marks three historic breakthroughs in the field of large-scale methanol dual-fuel container ship construction: the first order for a Chinese shipowner, the first delivery by a Chinese shipyard, and the first real-ship application of a domestically produced methanol engine.