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?
A.P. Moller - Maersk has entered into strategic partnerships with six organisations to secure the supply of at least 730,000 tonnes per year of green methanol fuel by 2025, which will fuel their future fleet of twelve methanol-fueled container ships. The announcement demonstrates a path forward for ramping up supply of alternative maritime fuels (including ammonia) by having a shipowner commit to complete off-take from a wide variety of partners & production projects, each of which is dramatically scaling-up output levels this decade.
Two maritime ammonia heavyweights - the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center - have signed a long-term agreement to accelerate the maritime industry’s decarbonisation efforts. The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation is currently overseeing a comprehensive ammonia bunkering study that will enable ammonia bunkering trials to proceed at two Singapore locations to start in 2023.
Following last month’s shipbuilding news from China, this week we explore three ammonia-related announcements from Norway-based players:
1. Breeze Ship Design’s ammonia-fueled oil tanker design, with a demonstration vessel to be eventually chartered to Equinor.
2. An order for six ammonia-ready, robotic offshore vessels from VARD.
3. And the P2XFloater, a new vessel concept from H2Carrier for the world’s first floating, industrial-scale ammonia production plant.
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.
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.