ITOCHU: newbuild ammonia bunkering vessel development and demonstration in Singapore

Click to enlarge. ITOCHU’s newbuild ammonia bunkering vessel –  set to be demonstrated in Singapore – will be built by Sasaki Shipyard and is expected to be delivered by September 2027. Source: ITOCHU.

Through its Singapore-based subsidiary Clean Ammonia Bunkering Shipping (CABS), ITOCHU Corporation has signed a shipbuilding contract with Hiroshima-based Sasaki Shipbuilding Ltd for the construction of a 5,000 m³ ammonia-fueled, ammonia bunkering vessel. It has also reached an agreement with Izumi Steel Works for the construction of an ammonia tank plant to be loaded onto the new vessel. CABS has also signed a financing agreement with The Hiroshima Bank to finance part of the vessel purchase, with equity from the parent company making up the rest of the required investment.

In ITOCHU’s envisioned commercial ammonia bunkering business, the bunkering ship owned by CABS would be time chartered to ZETA Bunkering, another Singapore-based ITOCHU subsidiary which would then offer bunkering services to ammonia vessel owners or cargo transporters. The newbuild vessel will be flagged under the Singapore Registry and is set to be delivered in September 2027 with ammonia bunkering demonstration in Singapore planned for the following month.

The vessel is part of an initiative supported by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) – the “Demonstration Project for Bunkering Ammonia as Marine Fuel in Singapore” – which aims to construct a new vessel and demonstrate ammonia bunkering as part of the broader ASEAN Global South Future-oriented Co-Creation Project.

Based on the new vessel, ITOCHU plans to establish offshore bunkering operations via ship-to-ship ammonia transfer. The company intends to use this vessel to connect first movers in clean ammonia production and ammonia-fuelled vessel producers, securing demand for ammonia as a marine fuel. ITOCHU is also targeting commercial ammonia bunkering in Singapore and expansion to major maritime transportation points around the world, including Spain (Strait of Gibraltar), Egypt (Suez Canal) and Japan.