By Enes Tunagur

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd HLAG.DE and North Sea Container Line $(NCL)$ have won a tender to use low-emission fuels derived from hydrogen on container ships from 2027 for at least three years to reduce CO2 emissions.

Hapag-Lloyd will power five large container ships with about 70,000 metric tons of e-methanol while NCL will refuel a small container ship with about 25,000 tons of e-ammonia, the companies told Reuters after the tender organised by the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA).

The volumes agreed are significant, given that use of such fuels by the shipping industry is negligible at present.

ZEMBA, a voluntary initiative including Amazon AMZN.O, IKEA, Nike NKE.N and Tchibo among others, matches companies prepared to pay more for deliveries using low-emission fuels with operators of vessels that can be powered by such fuels.

The voluntary initiative to reduce maritime emissions follows a decision in October by the International Maritime Organization to delay a global carbon price by a year under pressure from the United States.

The shipping sector faces more difficulty than most in lowering emissions, requiring costly retrofits on existing vessels or new ships able to use e-fuels.

"What we have found in our first go-to-market exercise for e-fuels-powered shipping is that there is e-fuel available at economically viable cost points, and there could be much more supply if there were stronger demand drivers," Zemba President Ingrid Irigoyen told Reuters.

China's Goldwind is likely to provide e-methanol volumes under the tender while Yara Clean Ammonia will provide e-ammonia, Hapag-Lloyd and NCL said.

(Reporting by Enes Tunagur in LondonEditing by David Goodman)

((enes.tunagur@thomsonreuters.com))