Large-scale ammonia imports to Hamburg, Brunsbüttel

Air Products & Mabanaft

The pair will develop ammonia import & distribution infrastructure at Mabanaft’s existing tank terminal at the Port of Hamburg. From 2026, ammonia imports will be “converted” to hydrogen at Air Products facilities in Hamburg, then distributed to customers in northern Germany.

The Port of Hamburg is committed to protecting the climate. After completing the first important milestone by signing an MoU in February 2022 with Air Products, we are happy that we take now the next important step toward building a hydrogen value chain in co-operation with our competent partners, Air Products and Mabanaft, the central element of which will be the import of green ammonia for conversion to green hydrogen. Hamburg will be one of the first ports worldwide to offer clean hydrogen import infrastructure. This import will drive the decarbonation for several applications in the harbour, as well as applications in shipping.

Hamburg Port Authority CEO Jens Meier in Air Products’ official press release, 17 Nov 2022

The Port of Hamburg is already a significant global bunkering hub, and has been at the centre of several significant ammonia energy announcements this year. It signed up to the European Green Corridors Network (along with the Ports of Gdynia, Gdynia, Hamburg, Roenne, Rotterdam, and Tallinn) in March this year. An ambitious Germany-UAE supply chain study (also signed earlier this year) will see ADNOC support Hamburg’s vision of becoming Germany’s key hydrogen import destination. And of course last month we saw the arrival of a CCS ammonia demonstration cargo from the UAE in Hamburg, where metals manufacturer Aurubis will test it as fuel for copper wire production.

RWE, Hyphen

And just up the Elbe River in Brunsbüttel, RWE is quickly advancing plans for ammonia imports. In March this year, RWE announced they intend to “quickly construct” a new LNG import terminal in Brunsbüttel, which will be ready to receive 300,000 tonnes of ammonia per year from 2026.

This week, RWE and Hyphen have signed an offtake agreement, and 300,000 tonnes per year from Hyphen’s under-development mega-project in Namibia will be shipped to Germany (with Brunsbüttel one of a number of possible destinations).

Green molecules are the only way for many industries in Germany to achieve their climate targets. In the long term, Germany’s demand for them will have to be met mainly through imports. That’s why we’re looking forward to progressing the offtake discussions with Hyphen – to bring green ammonia from Namibia to Germany.

RWE Supply & Trading CCO Ulf Kerstin in his organisation’s official press release, 2 Dec 2022