The overall goal of reaching production levels of 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year is driven by the government's desire to reduce the country's reliance on energy imports. Hydrogen & ammonia are the keys to unlocking this new, fossil-free future.
Aker Clean Hydrogen and Kuehne+Nagel are joining forces to offer a “green container shipping” service for their cargo customers. The pair report that they are already in advanced discussions with ship owners.
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.
This week we explore a trio of announcements out of China:
1. The ammonia-ready vessel Kriti Future has been delivered to owners Avin International.
2. Höegh Autoliners has contracted China Merchants Heavy Industry to build at least four of their new ammonia-ready vessel design: the Aurora-class car carrier. The new builds will meet requirements for DNV GL's methanol and ammonia-ready notation guides.
3. And Swiss-based shipping giant MSC has placed an order for six ammonia-ready container ships from Dalian Shipbuilding in China. The vessels will be powered by WinGD dual-fuel engines, for which retrofits will be available by 2024/5 to run on methanol and ammonia.
The new project will be built in Sauda on Norway's southwestern coast and owned by Hy2gen, Trafigura and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Hy2gen is already developing a similar hydro-ammonia project in Quebec. The plant at Sauda - dubbed the Iverson eFuels project - will feature 240 MW of electrolyser capacity, producing 600 tonnes per day (or more than 200,000 tonnes per year) green ammonia via renewable electricity. Similar to the Quebec project, the partners indicate the produced green ammonia is destined for use as maritime fuel.
In Singapore, the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbanisation has selected a DNV-led consortium to carry out a key bunkering safety study. The work of DNV, Surbana Jurong and the Singapore Maritime Academy will create a "regulatory sandbox" to enable the demonstration of ammonia bunkering at two trial locations, and run for twelve months until February 2022.
Rio Tinto and AngloEastern have announced they will develop Newcastlemax class, ammonia-powered bulk carriers. The dry cargo vessels will be the maximum size allowed to dock in the Port of Newcastle, Australia: an important coal & iron ore port in global maritime trade. Both AngloEastern and Rio Tinto are members of an Itochu-led maritime fuel study investigating the use of ammonia. In Japan, a "greener ships" consortium has produced its first-ever ammonia-powered design: a Panamax-class bulk carrier. And the China State Shipbuilding Corporation will develop two 93,000 m3 ammonia-powered ammonia carrier vessels, with Bureau Veritas granting AiP for the vessel design.
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.
Enova - Norway's government-owned, clean energy investment enterprise - announced funding to support some key ammonia energy projects currently in progress:
1. New Funding guarantees a final investment decision for the pilot phase of electrifying Yara's Herøya (Porsgrunn) ammonia plant.
2. Horisont Energi's Barents Blue project will now participate in the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) Hydrogen scheme.
3. And Viridis Bulk Carriers will receive a to-be-determined amount from to develop the first ammonia-powered cargo short sea bulk vessel in its future north European fleet.
Korean Register has granted AiP for two more ammonia-fueled vessel designs: a 60,000 m3 carrier and a 38,000 m3 ammonia transport/bunkering vessel. Both designs were developed by Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, with assistance from Hyundai Heavy Industries. Importantly, the new AiPs mark the first milestone achievement for the 'Green Ammonia Shipping/Bunkering Consortium', which was launched in May 2021 with the explicit purpose of developing ammonia-fueled ship designs for approval by Korean Register.