[SINGAPORE] Being based in Singapore is an advantage in building a greener fleet, shipping line Ocean Network Express (ONE) CEO Jeremy Nixon said in an interview with The Business Times.
ONE is undergoing a major fleet expansion for a lower-carbon future, with about 50 new vessels on order.
This includes a fleet of 32 S Class container ships that will be registered in Singapore. These can be modified to use the greener fuels methanol or ammonia, and thus enjoy incentives for cleaner ships, said Nixon.
Another eight new ships will run on liquefied natural gas, which is also less pollutive than conventional fuel oil. All these are part of ONE’s decarbonisation strategy to slash emissions by 60 per cent by 2030, and reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The S Class ships are the first major new fleet since ONE was formed in 2017, in the merger of three Japanese shipping companies – Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Mitsui OSK Lines and K Line – with a total fleet of around 240 vessels.
In its early years, the company focused on consolidating the merger, and could not afford expansion until around 2021, said Nixon.
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ONE has been profitable over the past six years. Like the rest of the industry, it did well during the pandemic, turning profits of US$16.8 billion in 2021 and US$15 billion in 2022.
For its 2024 financial year ended March 2025, it posted a profit of US$4.2 billion from a revenue of US$19.2 billion.
It is the world’s sixth-largest shipping company with about 260 vessels and a combined capacity of just over two million TEUs. This expansion should take its fleet to over 300 vessels, adding more than 650,000 TEU in capacity.
This would bring ONE closer to its nearest competitor, fifth-ranked Hapag-Lloyd, and keep it just ahead of seventh-ranked Evergreen Marine, even as both rivals are making multi-billion dollar investments in new alternative-fuel ships.
Go green
After the first few S Class vessels have been in service for five years, they will go back to the shipyard for their scheduled dry dock survey. At that point, they can be retrofitted to use ammonia or methanol.
The next 20 to 30 new vessels, however, will be dual-fuel from the start – particularly for methanol. “That will then allow them to apply for green incentives under the Singapore flag,” said Nixon.
Singapore’s Green Ship Programme offers concessions on initial registration fees, annual tonnage taxes and port fees for cleaner ships that qualify. Older ships can also qualify for some of these benefits if they are upgraded to use cleaner fuels.
Methanol and ammonia are not yet available as commercial ship fuel, but Singapore is laying the groundwork to supply them, with trials and regulatory frameworks.
ONE and Singapore are “like-minded” on decarbonisation, said Nixon, noting that ONE was a founding partner of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation in Singapore.
“I think there’s a real ecosystem here in Singapore to support decarbonisation and encourage it,” he said.
“And it’s great to see that the MPA (Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore) is encouraging people to think about decarbonisation, but also giving them some incentive if they do it, if they bring their ships onto the Singapore flag.”
Go big, but go smart
Scale is “very, very important” for modern shipping lines, as economies of scale help them stay profitable, said Nixon.
Having larger ships that can carry more containers is more efficient and less polluting on a per-container basis, he noted. “Because if you go with small ship sizes, they’re not efficient. Their carbon intensity is not good.”
But growing a fleet of large vessels is not the only way to scale. Said Nixon: “You actually need to have one or two or three consortia partners, where you co-load activity.”
ONE is both attaining scale and expanding its network through the Premier Alliance with South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine and Taiwan’s Yang Ming.
All three member lines cooperate and share ship capacity. This allows ONE to have wider geographical coverage and greater shipping frequency.
ONE is also using technology to boost efficiency, said Nixon. “For the last five years now, we’ve had a strong focus on technology, systems innovation – including AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning.”
It uses in-house AI and machine learning tools to improve ship routes, avoid bad weather and even predict container bookings.
By avoiding bad weather, ships do not burn as much fuel. Predicting demand, meanwhile, means that ONE can avoid shipping too many empty containers.
