Maersk Tankers adds very large ammonia carriers to its fleet

By Julian Atchison on December 12, 2023

Order placed with Hyundai Heavy Industries

Maersk Tankers has ordered up to ten very large ammonia carriers from Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea.
Click to learn more. Maersk Tankers has ordered up to ten very large ammonia carriers from Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea.

Maersk Tankers has ordered up to ten very large ammonia carriers (VLACs) from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HHI). The Korean-built vessels will have a capacity of 93,000 m3, with the first four vessels to be delivered from late 2026 onwards (with a contract option for another six). Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. will join as a co-investor in the first four vessels.

Maersk will work with MAN Energy Solutions and HHI to design the vessels to run on ammonia fuel. However, Maersk will wait for “regulatory and customer” support before making a decision to install ammonia-capable engines.

Concrete actions are needed for the tanker industry to progress the energy transition, and in Maersk Tankers, we want to play our part in making transportation of clean energy a reality. We are building on our legacy of operating gas carriers to offer a crucial transportation service that will aid the transition. With this initiative, we will be able to service clean ammonia producers and users in many parts of the world with highly energy efficient and safe ships.

Maersk Tankers’ CEO, Tina Revsbech in her organisation’s official press release, 1 Dec 2023

We are very pleased to be a part of this initiative with our partner, Maersk Tankers. Mitsui will leverage its expertise and experience in the shipping industry as well as in energy and chemicals to accelerate the transportation of ammonia which we see as one of the promising options for sources of next generation energy.

Kensuke Kubota, General Manager of the Marine Solution Business Div. at Mitsui & Co. in her Maersk Tanker’s official press release, 1 Dec 2023

Maersk is part of several marine ammonia project consortia:

  • Ammonia bunkering at the Port of Savannah, Georgia (one of the USA’s busiest container ports).
  • Project SABRE in Singapore, which has recently unveiled designs for an ammonia bunker barge and a 15,000 TEU container vessel.
  • A potential ammonia production facility next to the Suez Canal (complementing methanol production projects Maersk is involved in there).
  • And the First Movers Coalition, a key decarbonisation alliance whose members are targeting 5% of their ocean-borne shipping to be powered by zero-emissions fuels in 2030, and cargo owners to ship 100% of their goods with zero-emissions fuels by 2040.