Number of Dual-Fuel Ships Nearly Doubled in 2025, and Strong Orderbook
The amount of liner shipping using dual-fuel vessels able to take advantage of the emerging alternative lower emissions fuels nearly doubled in 2025, according to new data from the World Shipping Council. In its year-end update on the Dual-Fuel Fleet Dashboard, WSC highlights continuing strong investments as shipowners push forward with their efforts, not waiting for the IMO and other regulators.
WSC launched the Dual-Fuel Fleet Dashboard as a tool to track the global liner shipping industry’s investments in new ships capable of running on renewable and lower-emission fuels. It presents the data as a snapshot “of how the fleet is preparing for the transition to net-zero 2050.”
While the IMO still searches for member agreement on its framework to govern emissions and the transition, the WSC emphasizes the level of investment coming from shipowners. According to its data, the number of dual-fuel containerships and vehicle carriers reached 400 at the end of 2025, nearly double the 218 at the end of 2024. Further, they calculate a further 726 vessels still on order, maintaining the proportion of dual-fuel ships in the pipeline despite the shift from orderbook onto the water seen in 2025.
WSC calculates that between the in-service and on-order vessels, the container and vehicle carrier sectors will reach 1,126 dual-fuel vessels, giving it an increase overall of 28 percent last year. They report it represents over $150 billion in investments.
It highlights that containerships and vehicle carriers are leading the adoption of dual-fuel vessels. They report containerships and vehicle carriers are now 74 percent of dual-fuel ships, and 74 percent of containerships and 87 percent of vehicle carrier orders are for dual fuel (by DWT). In other segments it says 21 percent of the orders are (by DWT) dual-fuel ships.
WSC does not report on other segments such as cruise ships, where dual-fuel and even tri-fuel are emerging as strong options, especially in the largest ships. More than 40 percent of the cruise ships on order (31 out of 75) are designed for multi-fuel, mostly LNG, and anticipation of future fuels. By gross tonnage, 59 percent of the cruise ships on order will use alternative fuels, while by berths it is 64 percent of the current order book.
In its analysis of the overall orderbook, DNV sets the number of ships due for delivery between 2026 and 2033 at 1,138. That represents 40 percent of the orders as using alternative fuels and will nearly double the number of alternative fuel vessels over the next eight years.
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Last year saw some overall slowing of the momentum for methanol, in part due to concern over supply near-term, but the overall alternative fuel trend continues. Alternative fuel vessels were nearly 40 percent of all the orders placed in 2025.
Jason Stefanatos, Global Decarbonization Director at DNV, highlighted today, February 2, that the momentum continued into 2026. He reported a total of 20 new orders for alternative-fueled vessels in January, with LNG-fueled container vessels continuing to account for the majority of orders (16), with one methanol-fueled offshore vessel and three LPG carriers making up the remainder.
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