23,500 tons of ammonia certified under the Fertilizer Institute’s Verified Ammonia Carbon Intensity (VACI) Program were loaded onto the Trafigura-operated Oceanic Star in Louisiana last month. The cargo is en route to Antwerp, where chemicals and materials manufacturer Envalior will use the low-carbon ammonia as a feedstock to produce the monomer caprolactam and downstream resins.
Meet China Energy Engineering Group (Energy China) and logistics and terminal specialist Jiangsu Andefu (ADF), two partners in an emerging renewable ammonia supply chain in northeast China. Energy China’s Songyuan project is expected to produce a combined 800,000 tons of renewable ammonia and methanol annually at full scale. Energy China also co-owns an ammonia storage terminal at Panjin Port along with ADF, and in 2024 jointly initiated the establishment of the “Northeast Asia Green Bunkering Fuel Supply Chain Alliance”.
At the recent Japan-India Summit, the governments committed to cooperation on R&D, development of policy, regulations, market mechanisms, infrastructure, and the establishment of a hydrogen/ammonia trade corridor between India and Japan.
GMF’s new report finds that both ammonia and methanol fuels are now “ready” for commercial deployment, but a concerted push is required to enable scale-up beyond 2030. The report highlights the increased familiarity (and confidence) from key maritime stakeholders with ammonia fuel, and a recommendation to independently verify emissions from the first ammonia-fueled vessels.
Various elements – different definitions for “green” hydrogen, subsidy structures, and transportation & logistics costs – all contribute to the gap between discovered prices for the H2Global and SECI renewable ammonia auctions. More SECI auction results are expected in the coming days and weeks.