NYK looks to Chile to bunker bulk carriers with ammonia

NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers wants to source green ammonia from an upcoming plant in Chile to fuel the 10-15 ammonia-capable bulk carriers it has on order.

PHOTO: Bulk carrier owned by NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers. NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers

NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers (NBP), the bulk carrier arm of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) Line, plans to build 10-15 ammonia-capable bulk carriers by the end of this decade. These future vessels will be used to “transport copper products from Chile to the Far East.”

To fuel this future fleet, the company will study the viability of sourcing green ammonia from Enaex's planned green ammonia plant in Mejillones, Chile.

Ammonia nitrate producer Enaex has partnered with French utility company Engie to develop an 18,000 mt/year green ammonia production plant in Mejillones. The plant will produce green ammonia using green hydrogen produced with renewable electricity, it confirmed.

“The facilities will include the construction of an air separation plant and an ammonia manufacturing plant,” Enaex noted. In addition, Engie will build a 26-megawatt green hydrogen plant adjacent to the ammonia facility to supply green hydrogen as a feedstock.

“It is important to highlight that Chile is one of the countries with the greatest potential in the production of Green Ammonia,” Enaex says on its website.

This is “thanks to the access to the best solar resources in the world, a huge potential demand, consolidated infrastructures such as interconnected electricity grid and gas pipelines, and the support of the State that has promoted the decarbonization of the electricity matrix by 2050,” it explains.

In the future, NBP and Enaex will also explore whether they can bunker ships with ammonia at Enaex’s Mejillones ammonia terminal, which is located in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile.

By Konica Bhatt

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