Ammonia has been highlighted as one of the more promising future fuels in order to achieve reduced CO2 emissions from shipping. A considerable amount of knowledge about the coastal use of ammonia for short distances is gradually coming into place, and today ammonia together with methanol is considered to be the solution that is closest to large-scale implementation.
The industry has also gained experience with the transportation of ammonia, but there are still several uncertainties related to how well it will work as a fuel for long-distance transportation. For Greig Maritime Group, which participates in several initiatives in both production and distribution of green ammonia, it is only natural to also study the possibility of ammonia in deep-sea shipping.
This project will investigate whether green ammonia can technically function as fuel at long sea distances and whether it is economically feasible. Safety and regulatory barriers will be identified, as well as any need for operational changes. A final, significant challenge that will be studied is the availability of ammonia in relevant ports.
Partners will work with five different workflows:
- Green Ammonia Availability
- Safety, Rules and Regulations
- Vessel Retrofit to Ammonia
- ESG and Finance
- Operations
Among the partners, we find players from the entire value chain, from cargo owners, technology companies, insurance companies, service providers, authorities, and the world´s largest Open Hatch shipping company. See the complete list to the right. Other contributors to the pilot project are Chevron, DSB (The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection), G2 Ocean, MAN, Suzano, Zero Emission Shipping Mission and Hyundai Global Service.
Unlike most ammonia-related projects that focus on using new construction of vessels, this pilot aims to use one of Greig´s eight-year-old L-Class Open Hatch Bulk ships. A possible trade route has been defined between Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, and Brazil, where our partner Suzano sends large quantities of production of paper.
As this pilot is a feasibility study, no final decision on remodeling will be made as a part of this project. The product will be a final report in which the overall goal is to provide the best possible basis for decision-making against redevelopment in a possible later phase. Regardless of the conclusion, the final report and the most important findings will be shared with the rest of the industry.
There is a strong belief that ammonia will play a part in the future of greens shipping and lays the lay as a foundation for the pilot´s goals. The relatively lower energy of alternative fuels, compared with more conventional fossil fuels, are among the challenges that differ between short sea shipping and deep-sea intercontinental shipping.
Grieg has a defined ship, a specific route for established transport, owner and operator of goods, and the entire value chain is involved. The two questions that need to be addressed are:
- Is it possible and reasonable, both technically and financially, to reconstruct an 8-yeard old ship to be operated with ammonia in order to be utilized for shipping goods across the Atlantic ocean?
- What are the most important barriers, risks, and opportunities that might arise?
The goal of the pilot
- The ultimate goal with the pilot would be to realize the world´s first deep-sea “open hatch” bulk carrier that is powered by green ammonia – retrofitting.
- Initially, the pilot study will be conducted under GSP in order to evaluate the feasibility of the pilot.
Status
The pilot was initiated in January 2022. A kick-off meeting was held, where five defined work streams were presented and approved. Multiple participants reported interest to contribute to one or more workstreams, and four companies assumed the responsibility of leading the work flows;
- Yara (Green Ammonia Availability),
- Norwegian Maritime Authority (Safety, Rules & Regulations),
- Grieg Maritime Group (Vessel Retrofit to Ammonia, ESG, and Finance), and
- G2 Ocean (Operations).
The pilot project had five different focus areas:
- Availability of green ammonia
- Safety
- Rules and regulations
- Conversion to ammonia propulsion
- ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), finance, and operations
Procedures for handling ammonia and crew training were developed.
The integration of tank systems on existing vessels was identified as challenging.
Through the work of the pilot, significant differences were uncovered in how forward‑leaning various ports are. The ports in Brazil appear to be the most proactive / the furthest ahead in terms of interest in ammonia.
In principle, this trade could manage with bunkering in just one port.
According to the pilot study, the largest costs lie in the retrofit phase – how can these investments be justified? Securing clarity from the EU ETS and other regulatory frameworks will be crucial for further investment in such projects.
The pilot’s report was completed in spring 2023. The report, which contains a range of interesting analyses and risk assessments for the various work packages mentioned above, was published externally in mid‑March.
Pilot owner Grieg praised all partners who contributed to this pilot: “What Grieg is left with is much more valuable than initially expected. Working on the pilot has been an amazing journey,” said Atle Sommer, Managing Director at Grieg Star, when he presented the pilot’s results to GSP’s partners.
The next internal step for Grieg will be to develop a business case. It will then be up to Grieg’s Board to decide how to proceed—whether to transfer the learnings to newbuilds or to actually carry out a retrofitting, which was the pilot’s focus. In any case, the pilot has provided valuable insights that Grieg will carry forward in its strategic decisions.
The pilot’s results were presented at an open mini‑seminar on 14 March.
A summary, results, and further details from the pilot are available in its final report.
Grieg’s Board decided in the summer of 2023 to build four new open‑hatch bulk carriers capable of running on ammonia. The vessels will be 225 meters long, 36 meters wide, and have a deadweight of 82,300 tonnes. The first ship is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2026.
These are newbuilds and therefore not a direct continuation of this pilot.
Read more
- E24 article: “Grieg vil ha ammoniakk på noen av sine største skip – E24″
- Presentation in Teknisk Ukeblad: “Vil bygge om 50.000 tonner til ammoniakkdrift og nullutslipp” – Tu.no