Anglo-Eastern announced that the first cohort has successfully completed its inaugural Pilot Training Course on Ammonia as a Marine Fuel. Already the ship manager for the ammonia-fueled vessel Fortescue Green Pioneer, Anglo-Eastern will soon take on that responsibility for a series of vessels coming out of Chinese shipyards, managing vessels for CMB.TECH.
Despite the successes and progress made in 2025, the year remains a missed opportunity for ammonia energy. The first complete supply chains for renewable ammonia are emerging, and some 600,000 tons of annual production capacity is set to be online in northeast China early next year. Maritime engines, cracking, and power & heat technology solutions also made their mark, moving from feasibility into deployment. But disappointing outcomes at the IMO and government support that failed to spark market development remains an issue, with plenty of critical, detail-heavy work ahead of us in 2026.
MOL has become the first shipping line and future fuel customer to join the Pilbara Clean Fuels Bunkering Hub initiative. MOL aims for its under-development, Capesize bulk carrier vessels to be bunkered in the Pilbara by 2030, servicing the iron ore supply corridor between West Australia and East Asia.
At the recent GasTech event in Italy, new agreements were signed for the development and execution of floating ammonia cracking (MOL and KBR), gas-based ammonia production (SBM Offshore), and renewable electricity-based ammonia production (H2Carrier).
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and ITOCHU will use their own vessels to demonstrate ship to ship ammonia bunkering in Singapore in 2027. This week, ITOCHU also signed collaboration agreements for the development of ammonia bunkering near the Suez Canal.
Between 2026 and 2029, Mitsui O.S.K Lines will add three ammonia-powered Capesize bulkers and six chemical tankers to its fleet through joint ownership and chartership with CMB.TECH. MOL, Namura Shipbuilding and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding have also received AiP from ClassNK for a large-size ammonia-powered ammonia carrier.
Adding terminal storage capabilities to its fleet of marine transportation and logistics fleet, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has acquired LBC Tank Terminals. LBC is currently inviting expressions of interest for its Vlissingen ammonia storage and cracking terminal, which is set to become operational in 2028.
In 2025, the pieces are rapidly assembling to enable and accelerate imports of ammonia energy to Japan. This year, government agency METI is due to announce two lots of key funding, including contracts for difference subsidies and development of import infrastructure. Power generation technologies will be commercialised within the next few years, and more maritime players are joining the push to deploy ammonia fuel in Japanese ships.
Madoqua and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will lead development of the corridor. Industry partners in the consortium include financiers, terminal operators, Port authorities, alternative fuel producers and offtakers. The transportation of liquified CO2 along the corridor will help establish a supply chain for sequestration of carbon emissions in Norway at Horisont Energi’s Gismarvik CO2 hub.
Led by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, a consortium has successfully executed a ship-to-ship ammonia transfer in outer anchorage, simulating ammonia bunker fuel operations within a port for the first time.
Eastern Pacific Shipping’s on-order very large ammonia carriers (VLACs) will be registered in Singapore, thanks to a new partnership with the Maritime and Port Authority. Trafigura has announced the first of its ammonia-fueled, medium gas carriers will be delivered from South Korea in 2027. In Japan, K LINE and MAN are leading a 5-party collaboration to develop ammonia fueled-engines and deploy them in 200,000 dwt bulk carriers. We also explore ammonia-fueled Aframaxes in Malaysia, a concept study for a large-volume, coastal ammonia carrier in Japan, and a new salmon fishing vessel design in Norway.
In marine ammonia news to begin 2024, we explore a volume-efficient, “prismatic” ammonia fuel tank design, a new long-term charter for ammonia shipping in the Pacific region, and two global gas exporters ordering ammonia-capable carriers for their fleets.
In this session at our 2023 annual conference, panelists discussed how unified certification will help solve the chicken and egg relationship between offtake and project development. Moderated by Vibeke Rasmussen from Yara, the discussion featured Ed Davis from the Loan Program Office (US DoE), Tomoaki Ichida from Mitsui OSK Lines, Oleksiy Tatarenko from RMI and Dolf Gielen from the World Bank Group.
Long-term offtake will be made easier with unambiguous, harmonised certification standards, which will in turn have a positive impact on ammonia projects reaching financial close. Certification schemes like the one under-development by the AEA are sorely needed to break the impasse between project development and offtake.
Earlier this year, the Japanese shipping giant declared a strategic direction which included a substantial role for low carbon ammonia. In our latest episode of Maritime Insights we explored the scope of this new strategy, MOL’s future fuels roadmap, and the wide range of initiatives in play to construct a full value chain for fuel ammonia (including mega-scale production projects).
Learn how Japanese shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) is establishing a key role for clean ammonia in its holistic group strategy: and not just as an alternative maritime fuel.
Mitsui OSK Lines has released an alternative fuel roadmap as part of its new environmental strategy, with a significant role for hydrogen & ammonia fuels starting from later this decade. The roadmap is complemented by a new strategic investment in ammonia fuel production in the US, and new partnerships in Singapore & Australia. Learn more about MOL’s future ammonia plans in our upcoming episode of Maritime Ammonia Insights.
Mitsui OSK Lines, Mitsubishi, Chiyoda and the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand will work together to build a clean hydrogen & ammonia value chain, with production based on renewable energy generation in southern Thailand. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the official launch of the Asian Zero Emissions Community: a new region-wide initiative to drive the energy transition in Asia.
Three new ammonia-powered, bulk carrier designs have recently been awarded Approval in Principle. In China, SDTR Marine & SDARI’s Kamsarmax dual-fuel design received AiP from the China Classification Society. In Japan, another Kamsarmax-sized vessel developed by Sumitomo and Oshima Shipping was approved, and ClassNK has signed off on a Capemax vessel designed by MOL and Mitsui & Co., which includes an ammonia-powered main engine and hard sails to improve energy efficiency.
Five ammonia vessel updates this week:
1. An ammonia/liquefied CO2 carrier concept design from Mitsui O.S.K. Lines & Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
2. Approval in Principle for an ammonia-fueled car carrier designed by China State Shipbuilding.
3. Approval in Principle for the MS Green Ammonia.
4. An MoU between three members of the Castor Initiative to design & construct two Very Large Crude Carriers.
5. A concept design for up to four types of ammonia-ready, LNG-fueled vessels (ARLFV) from NYK Line.
This week Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (via subsidiary Mitsubishi Shipbuilding) & Mitsui O.S.K. Lines completed a joint study on the use of floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) for ammonia bunkering. FSRUs open up a suite of new options for future bunkering setups - particularly power generation applications.
A consortium led by Sembcorp Marine has been granted AiP by the American Bureau of Shipping for a new ammonia bunkering vessel design. Sembcorp and its subsidiary LMG Marin (who was recently engaged by Grieg Maritime and Wartsila to design the MS Green Ammonia) were responsible for the design phase, which passed a rigorous HAZID assessment with support from the American Bureau of Shipping. Consortium partners also include Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Itochu, two organisations with growing ammonia interests in Singapore. The new announcement is one of a number of ammonia & ammonia-ready bunkering designs in progress, with Korean Register, Oceania, Kanfer, Azane Fuel Solutions and the Korean Green Ammonia Shipping/Bunkering Consortium all at various stages of progress with their designs.
Korean logistics organisation Hyundai Glovis will ship LPG and ammonia from 2024 as part of a new ten-year agreement signed with Swiss-based commodity trader Trafigura. Glovis will spend around US$170 million on two new very large gas carriers (VLGCs) designed to carry both LPG and ammonia.
Australia-based Origin Energy and shipping company Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) have joined forces to explore where they can develop the green ammonia supply chain between Australia and Asia. The new joint study (to be completed by the end of this year) will also determine the feasibility of Australian green ammonia export projects supplying key markets by 2026.
Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. This week: two new large-scale ammonia projects in the UAE, RWE, BASF combine for 2 GW "Offshore-to-X" project, green ammonia exports from Tasmania, coal co-combustion trials in Japan, Japanese shipping industry chases decarbonisation, South Korean companies join together in local green ammonia consortium, new funding for ammonia-from-wastewater research and Horisont Energi and Equinor join forces for the Polaris project.
Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. There's so much news this edition that we're bringing you two, special Wrap articles. Our second focuses on maritime ammonia & supply chain development. This week: Bureau Veritas releases "Ammonia-Prepared" notation, Höegh Autoliners' ammonia-powered car-carrier to hit the water by 2023, Yara and JERA to collaborate, Japan's Kobe Port moves towards hydrogen and ammonia, New partners for Itochu/Vopak study in Singapore, and a new Voltachem ammonia study shows need for cross-border cooperation in EU.