DANISH shipping giant Maersk is being tipped by container shipping analysts at Alphaliner as lining up another series of methanol-fuelled ship orders, reports Singapore's 247.

Alphaliner is reporting Maersk has put out a request for proposals to build up to fifteen 3,500 TEU boxships with Chinese yards in pole to win the order.

Last month Maersk held a high-profile naming ceremony for the Laura Maersk, the world's first methanol-powered boxship, a feeder that is now working in the Baltic.

Maersk has taken the lead with methanol orders. It also has contracted for a series of 9,000 TEU ships and in total has 25 methanol-dual fuel ships set to join its fleet by 2027, not including the rumoured 15 extra ships mentioned by Alphaliner.

Alphaliner is also reporting that Japan's Ocean Network Express (ONE) is in the market for up to 10 more container vessels of around 13,000 TEU. In the request for proposals, ONE has asked yards for conventional tonnage and for variants with methanol dual-fuel propulsion.

Methanol-powered ships represent 52 per cent of all new boxship capacity ordered this year, the latest data from Alphaliner shows.