Japanese firms to start ammonia bunkering in May

A Japanese cross-industry group has moved forward with an ammonia bunkering project for a tugboat, with the first fuelling scheduled at Yokohama port in late May.

The group, which includes power producer Jera, shipping firm NYK Line and its subsidiary Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha, ammonia producer Resonac and engineering firm Tokyo Power Technology, has jointly studied the possible setting up of ammonia bunkering for a tugboat since December 2023.

Jera is to buy an unspecified type of ammonia from Resonac through Tokyo Power Technology and supply it to NYK and Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha.

Jera said on 10 April it will supply the marine ammonia to NYK in late May to fuel the NYK-owned tugboat A-Tug, which will be in service at Yokohama port. The ammonia will be transported by a tanker truck and supplied by truck-to-ship operations.

A-Tug is scheduled to be officially commissioned in June. Jera after starting normal operations plans to supply the marine ammonia to Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha, which will be in charge of operating the tugboat. The planned ammonia consumption of the tugboat was undisclosed, although the bunkering is scheduled to be done twice a month.

Jera has geared up efforts to utilise fuel ammonia for power generation to substitute it for coal. Demonstration of co-firing ammonia and coal at its 1GW Hekinan No.4 coal-fired genereation unit achieved a 20pc mixture on 10 April after the test burning began on 1 April, it said.

By Motoko Hasegawa