Consortium to explore ammonia bunkering in the US Port of Savannah
Several partners, including Danish shipping company A.P. Moller – Maersk and Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation, will study the feasibility of ship-to-ship bunkering of green ammonia on the US East Coast.
PHOTO: Aerial shot of the Port of Savannah in Georgia with ships docked in the Savannah River. Georgia Port Authority
Other members in the global cross-industry alliance are classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), research organisation Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMCZCS), Hong Kong-based ship management company Fleet Management and TOTE Services, logistics company Savage Services and the Georgia Ports Authority from the US.
The consortium aims to develop a "cost-effective" ammonia supply network. They will design an ammonia bunkering articulated tug-barge (AB-ATB) for ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering of green ammonia, and look to develop ammonia bunkering infrastructure in Savannah.
Articulated tug barges are a combination of a tugboat and a barge. The tugboat will be connected to the barge by a hinge-like mechanism that allows the tug to manoeuvre the barge. These vessels are usually used to haul cargo between ports.
The consortium will also examine safety norms and regulations for ammonia bunkering in the US.
This will be the first STS ammonia bunkering base in the US, and follow projects in Singapore and Oman, says Koji Endo, general manager of energy division at Sumitomo Corporation.
Maersk’s head of energy transition Morten Bo Christiansen says that the Danish shipping major needs “huge amounts of green fuel for our ships” to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
“For now, green methanol is the only pathway that is certain to have material impact in this decade, and we are happy to see the momentum that is building in the shipping industry on this pathway. However, given the enormity of the challenge ahead of us, we must keep exploring additional new fuel pathways. We see green ammonia as a fuel with potential in the long term for commercial shipping,” Bo Christiansen adds.
He goes on to say that the safety and environmental aspects of ammonia's toxicity must be addressed, and that the cost of bunkering ammonia should be understood better.
According to ABS vice president of global sustainability Panos Koutsourakis, ammonia presents a “zero-carbon, tank-to-wake emissions profile”, but it also poses a particular set of “safety and technological challenges.”
MMCZCS’ chief technology officer Claus Winter Graugaard says the Savannah Port Project provides a “local and regional use case for commercial activation [of ammonia] in the US East Coast.”
Savannah Port, operated by the Georgia Ports Authority, is a major seaport in Savannah, Georgia, in the US. According to a joint statement by the consortium, "numerous ammonia-fuelled Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCSs)" can be bunkered there to help decarbonise the container shipping industry.
Georgia Port Authority is also working on a "Big Berth/Big Ship" programme that will allow the Port of Savannah to handle six 14,000 TEU vessels simultaneously by 2024. This will expand the port's container handling capacity by 60% by 2025.
By Konica Bhatt
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