Italian bunker supplier and shipowner Fratelli Cosulich signed an initial agreement with Chinese shipbuilder Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore and Engineering (CIMC SOE) on 28 September to deliver a newbuild ammonia bunker tanker.
The company said in November last year that it would undertake a joint development project with Singapore-based vessel designer SeaTech and Italian maritime classification society Rina to develop a design for an ammonia bunker tanker. No details were given about the capacity of the ammonia vessel or the likely delivery date.
CIMC SOE is already constructing two LNG bunkering vessels for Fratelli Cosulich, which are scheduled for delivery in September 2023 and January 2024.
Ammonia can be used as a zero-carbon marine fuel, and is one of the options apart from methanol, hydrogen and biofuels considered by ship owners looking to meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s decarbonisation targets.
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with zero CO2 emissions if produced from clean energy sources. But handling ammonia requires special care as it has less than half the energy density of conventional marine fuels and is highly toxic.
Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, Fleet Management, offshore platform designer Keppel Offshore and Marine, the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, trading firm Sumitomo and Norwegian chemicals firm Yara International ASA had signed an initial agreement in March 2021 to conduct a feasibility study for a green ammonia supply chain in Singapore, the world's largest bunkering port.
