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ZEMBA Announces Winners of Highly Anticipated E-fuel Tender 

Hapag-Lloyd and North Sea Container Line have won ZEMBA’s second tender, enabling ZEMBA’s members to abate ocean transport emissions by deploying two pioneering hydrogen-derived e-fuels. 

Washington, DC, December 17, 2025 — Today, the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) announced that it is deploying two categories of scalable e-fuels in container shipping. This is a key milestone in the clean energy transition of the maritime shipping industry as it bolsters two fuel pathways to future-proof this critical sector, supports new economic opportunities around the world, and mitigates the sector’s significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

Based on commitments to date, this ground-breaking effort will enable participating member companies, including cofounders Amazon, Patagonia and Tchibo, and members including Beiersdorf, Brooks Running, Green Worldwide Shipping, IKEA, Nike, Poly Medicure Ltd., and Sport-Thieme to deploy e-fuels on an initial 20 billion tonne nautical miles of transport activity over three years, with some members extending to five years. This results in at least approximately a combined 120,000 metric tonnes of GHG emissions abated, starting in 2027. Contracting remains ongoing, and ZEMBA welcomes additional freight buyers to reach out through ZEMBA’s website if interested in joining this deal. 

Through these deployments, the two winning shipping lines, global container line Hapag-Lloyd and regional feeder North Sea Container Line (NCL), are redefining what’s possible in this industry:  

  • Hapag-Lloyd will deploy e-methanol on large methanol dual-fuel containerships, on a trans-oceanic lane.  
  • NCL will deploy the world’s first e-ammonia-powered containership, serving a northern European trade lane.  

Both fuels will be made with low-carbon hydrogen produced with renewable energy and will deliver a carbon intensity reduction of at least 90% on a lifecycle basis relative to conventional high-emission fuel.  

“We applaud Hapag-Lloyd and North Sea Container Line’s leadership, collaboration, and innovation, as well as the quality of their offerings in response to ZEMBA’s pioneering market signal,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, President and CEO of ZEMBA. “This voluntary private sector initiative remains on track to invest in rapid on-the-water deployment of vastly scalable, next-generation maritime fuels.”  

“At a time when sourcing scalable e-fuels remains a major challenge for the entire industry, winning the second ZEMBA tender is a significant milestone for us. Deploying e-methanol is an essential step in our journey to reach net-zero fleet operations by 2045. We are very grateful for the trust that all ZEMBA members have placed in our capabilities, and we remain fully committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to a greener future for global shipping,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd. 

“We are proud to be awarded together with Hapag-Lloyd the ZEMBA tender, reaffirming NCL’s commitment to shaping the future of sustainable logistics,” said Bente Hetland, CEO of NCL. “With a dedicated product for ZEMBA’s members who are ready to drive real change, NCL will continue to push the transition towards next generation maritime fuels. We are truly grateful for the strong support from the business community as we work together to deliver efficient and forward-thinking transport solutions.” 

Following ZEMBA’s novel inaugural tender in 2024, ZEMBA’s second procurement focused on kickstarting a new market for scalable, low-carbon hydrogen-derived e-fuels that will be essential to achieve an economically viable whole-of-sector maritime clean energy transition. Just as global renewable energy costs have declined significantly in recent years as the market has matured, e-methanol and e-ammonia that are produced with clean energy offer great potential for economies of scale. With this announcement, ZEMBA’s first-mover members are demonstrating support for scalable, strategic, and holistic supply chain sustainability solutions that can enable them to meet long-term goals.  

This latest announcement also reinforces the importance of credible, third-party verified, and transparent book and claim chain of custody systems to activate early voluntary corporate demand and create markets for new technology solutions. For highly distributed global sectors like ocean transportation, these systems enable demand from buyers around the world to flow to first-mover suppliers that are ready for deployment, irrespective of geographic availability constraints that would otherwise render such commercial arrangements impossible. To that end, ZEMBA continues its close working partnership for this second tender with Katalist, the first nonprofit maritime book and claim system, hosted by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping and RMI.  

ZEMBA looks forward to finalizing the full measurable impact of its second tender in 2026, as both existing and new members complete contracting with the winning carriers, and to announcing future rounds of procurements as the initiative continues to garner success. 

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ABOUT ZEMBA

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), a nonprofit organization, is a first-of-its-kind buyers group within the maritime sector, the aim of which is to accelerate commercial deployment of clean energy-powered shipping, enable economies of scale, and help cargo owners maximize their positive impact beyond what any one freight buyer could accomplish alone.

The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program serves as the ZEMBA secretariat. Technical and legal support are provided by several key partners. The Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) is a US-based, globally focused nonprofit organization working to catalyze and scale the adoption of low-carbon goods and services within carbon-intensive industries such as aviation, maritime, trucking, cement and concrete, and chemicals. Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub is an independent, not-for-profit social purpose organization, working towards a vision of a safe, sustainable, and human-centric decarbonized shipping industry for the benefit of society. The law firm Pillsbury acts as legal counsel and provides procurement expertise.

Almost 50 current members of ZEMBA encourage additional companies to join us in sending a growing demand signal for scalable, sustainable shipping through ZEMBA’s tenders. Learn more at www.shipzemba.org.

About Hapag-Lloyd

With a fleet of 305 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 2.5 million TEU, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. In the liner shipping segment, the company has around 14,000 employees and 400 offices in 140 countries. Hapag-Lloyd has a container capacity of 3.8 million TEU – including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. A total of 130 liner services worldwide ensure fast and reliable connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents. In the Terminal & Infrastructure segment, Hapag-Lloyd has equity stakes in 21 terminals in Europe, Latin America, the United States, India, and North Africa. Around 3,000 employees are assigned to the Terminal & Infrastructure segment and provide complementary logistics services at selected locations in addition to the terminal activities.

About NCL

NCL is the market leader in container shipping in Norway. From our head office in Haugesund, Norway we operate a fleet of container vessels in intra-European trade and offer a wide range of logistic services. NCL is taking the lead in the green transition at sea with two methanol 1300TEUs container vessels in service from Q2 2025 and the world’s first ammonia-powered container vessel under construction for delivery Q4 2026.

Contact: Michellie Hess 
Communications Manager 
The Aspen Institute 
[email protected]