Site items in: Infrastructure

Maritime green corridors in Chile, Australia and the US
Article

In three green maritime corridor announcements this week:

  • Chile’s Ministry of Energy and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping will develop a network of transport corridors in and out of the country.
  • The Global Maritime Forum will lead an Australian consortium seeking to establish ammonia-powered iron ore transport routes between Australia and southeast Asia.
  • and the US State Department has outlined its official approach to green corridors, describing them as a “key means of spurring the early adoption of zero-emission fuels” like ammonia.

ACE Terminal: importing ammonia to Rotterdam from 2026
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Gasunie, HES International and Vopak will develop an import terminal for ammonia on Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte, with operations to begin in 2026 under the name ACE Terminal. While green imports are the long-term focus, blue ammonia imports are possible in the initial phase. The design will leverage existing ammonia infrastructure on Maasvlakte. New build features include a deep-sea berth for large vessels and possibly an ammonia cracker.

Closing the Gap for Zero-Emission Fuels
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In January 2022, UMAS and the Getting To Zero Coalition (GtZC) released a report with policy options for closing the competitiveness gap between conventional & future maritime fuels. Such measures will be necessary to enable an equitable transition to zero-emissions shipping. So how might these potential policy routes may impact and enable the scaling of maritime ammonia?

First-movers working towards renewable ammonia
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Three key first-movers at Ammonia Energy - NEOM, Yara and Fertiberia - have all made significant steps towards green ammonia production in recent times. With the launch of a new subsidiary to develop hydrogen & ammonia production, NEOM can possibly begin construction of its green hydrogen plant this month. Also this week, Yara held a groundbreaking ceremony at Heroya, with the intention to bring green ammonia and fertilisers to market by mid-2023. And a few months ago in December, green hydrogen storage tanks arrived at Fertiberia’s Puertollano ammonia plant, ready for installation.

Accelerating green ammonia import plans for Germany
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RWE is accelerating plans for a green ammonia import terminal in Brunsbüttel, with facilities to be ready to receive 300,000 tonnes per year as early as 2026. Although the immediate focus for Brunsbüttel is a new LNG import facility, RWE indicates that the ultimate goal is complete conversion of the site to only import “green molecules” like ammonia. Brunsbüttel has already been identified as a likely destination for green ammonia exports from South Australia. And, an ongoing feasibility study by the Australian-German HySupply consortium has released interim results suggesting that shipping costs for Australian ammonia to the EU will be much lower than first thought.

Fortescue begins work on Queensland electrolyser plant
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Fortescue Future Industries’ 2 GW per annum electrolyser manufacturing plant in Queensland has officially broken ground in construction, and is on track to begin operations next year. FFI and Plug Power are equal partners in the electrolyser plant, which will manufacture Plug Power’s electrolyser units. The first electrolyser units off the process line in 2023 have already been earmarked for installation at FFI’s planned green hydrogen production facility in Gibson Island, Brisbane, next door to Incitec Pivot Limited’s existing ammonia plant. Agreements between FFI and state-owned power utilities were signed this week to plug Gibson Island electrolysers into Queensland’s power grid.

Green Maritime Corridors - A catalyst for transition to green shipping fuels
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The ports of Los Angeles and Shanghai have announced the intention to create a green shipping corridor across the Pacific Ocean. The ambition is for ships trading between these ports to run on alternative low greenhouse gas emission fuels. Ammonia stands among the options as such an alternative.

There is a clear willingness from key players at the LA end of this trans-Pacific shipping corridor to embrace alternative fuel solutions and work together to unlock a suite of zero emissions technologies, albeit limited to an onshore focus for now. Shifting focus onto the water - where ammonia maritime fuel will undoubtedly play a critical role - is the logical next step.