ZEMBA’s latest tender is focused on stimulating the first commercial deployment of e-fuels in the maritime sector. Bids are due in spring 2025.
Contact: Taylor Goelz
Senior Program Manager
The Aspen Institute
[email protected]
Washington, DC, February 25, 2025 –
Today, ZEMBA announced it is now accepting bids for its efuel- focused tender. Through this tender, ZEMBA intends to aggregate approximately 86 billion tonne nautical miles of demand for the emissions abatement associated with e-fuel-powered shipping to be deployed starting in 2027. This equates to 1.5 million twenty-foot containers transported across the Pacific Ocean by e-fuels, assuming a benchmark distance of Shanghai to Los Angeles.
Through this tender, ZEMBA – facilitated by the Aspen Institute – will enable its over 40 member companies to abate approximately 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, subject to final commercial details.
“Getting e-fuel-powered shipping on the water for the first time through this collaborative forward procurement will be a huge technical and commercial innovation milestone for the sector. We look forward to receiving bids from container carriers ready to partner with ZEMBA and our freight buyer members to make maritime history,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, President and CEO of ZEMBA.
A qualifying bid for ZEMBA’s tender will be a proposal from a containership carrier or consortium for e-fuel-powered shipping for 3-5 years, starting around 2027. All bids must demonstrate at least a 90% lifecycle emission reduction for primary propulsion of the vessel(s) compared to a high emission fuel baseline. After thorough vetting and commercial negotiation, ZEMBA will select the best proposal(s), and members will enter bilateral contracts with the winner(s). For this tender, ZEMBA is open to the potential of multiple winners. Results of the second tender are expected to be announced by the end of 2025.
For this tender, ZEMBA has added a pre-qualification process for potential bidders. Any interested bidders who have not yet reached out are invited to contact ZEMBA as soon as possible at [email protected] to complete this step. ZEMBA has developed public materials to help interested carriers evaluate their ability to bid and provide information to other stakeholders, available on www.shipzemba.org. Additional materials will be provided to approved, qualified bidders. These resources were developed in collaboration with the Center for Green Market Activation, Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub, and Pillsbury.
ZEMBA’s e-fuel focus for the tender builds off lessons learned during its successful inaugural tender, completed in April 2024, feedback from members, and a request for information conducted in 2025 in collaboration with the Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub. Global carrier Hapag-Lloyd won ZEMBA’s first tender and is supporting members to collectively abate at least 82,000 metric tonnes of CO2e in 2025 and 2026.
For Media: Inquiries may be directed to Senior Program Manager for Ocean & Climate Taylor Goelz at [email protected].
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ABOUT ZEMBA
The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), a non-profit organization is a first-of-itskind 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’s 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 non-profit working to catalyze and scale the uptake 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.
The over 40 current members of ZEMBA encourage additional companies to join us in sending an ever-growing demand signal for scalable, sustainable shipping through ZEMBA’s tenders. Learn more at www.shipzemba.org.