Safe ammonia bunkering is both economically and operationally viable within the Pilbara region – that’s the conclusion of a new, unpublished, study by class society Lloyd’s Register, jointly commissioned by Yara Clean Ammonia and Pilbara Ports.
The commissioners of the study have not made the report freely available on the grounds that it contains sensitive market information.
The study indicated that ship-to-ship bunkering operations could be performed within acceptable risk levels at anchorages in Dampier and Port Hedland and that safe ammonia bunkering is economically and operationally viable within the Pilbara region. Existing ammonia production and export infrastructure within the Pilbara, such as Yara’s Karratha plant and Pilbara Ports’ bulk liquids berth at Dampier, could be “leveraged” to initiate bunkering operations in the near term.
The study apparently also shows that fuel-ammonia demand had a potential volume of 1.5 million tonnes by 2035. That is a relatively small amount compared to existing ship bunker (fuel) demand which is in the region of 229 million tonnes a year. Given that the forerunner future fuels (methanol, ammonia etc) do not have anywhere near as much energy content as conventional fuels – approximately half or so – then that 229 million tonnes figure would need to be roughly doubled to satisfy the existing global market if all ships where hypothetically able to switch to a future-fuel overnight.
The Ammonia Energy Association reports that, as a shipping fuel, 295 to 670 Mt of ammonia could power 55%–90% of long-distance shipping fleets per year, replacing 5–13 exajoules (EJ) of bunker fuel.
Yara Clean Ammonia Senior VP Commercial Murali Srinivasan said that the level of demand reflected the push by iron ore miners and the steel industry to decarbonise. Pilbara Ports Chief Executive Officer Samuel McSkimming added that, with the carbon reduction efforts in the steel industry supply chain, bulk carriers are a natural starting point for the early adoption of alternative marine fuels.
“The Pilbara contains the world’s largest bulk export ports. Last year we achieved 752.4 million tonnes of trade with more than 6,829 vessel visits. This scale of operations cannot be found anywhere else in the world, and it makes the Pilbara’s ports the natural beachhead from which the global bulk carrier fleet will decarbonise,” Mr McSkimming said.
“The study is an important step towards implementing safe ship to ship ammonia bunkering at our anchorages in Dampier and Port Hedland. Ammonia is already widely produced, used, and shipped in industrial quantities around the world. To be able to expand its application as a green shipping fuel would greatly reduce shipping emissions.”
About 183 mega-tonnes of ammonia (NH30) are produced around the world every year, and it is currently primarily used as a fertilizer, according to the Ammonia Energy Association.
There are two major problems with ammonia – firstly, it is very toxic and so would need to be carefully controlled at all times and especially so during bunkering, or in the event of a marine incident. There are, for instance, examples of containers being blown over the side of ships and puncturing the hull at the exact point where fuel tanks are located and therefore puncturing the fuel tank. In the event of a spill, it poses acute toxicity risk to human and aquatic life. Meanwhile, upon release, ammonia reacts readily with moisture to form a dense cloud that poses a fatal health risk to human and wildlife. In an accident, an ammonia cloud is potentially very dangerous in a populated area, especially burns the lungs and eyes, thereby incapacitating people caught in the cloud and they are no longer able to escape the vicinity.
Secondly, combustion of ammonia produces large volumes of Nitrous Dioxide (NO2), one of the types of nitrous oxides. Nitrous oxides are themselves potent greenhouse gas chemicals – the impact of one pound of nitrous oxide gas in the atmosphere is equivalent to 265 times that of one pound of carbon dioxide gas, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The world’s first ammonia-powered box-ship, which will be named the Yara Eyde and will operate in Scandinavia and Germany, is due to be delivered in 2026 by Yara Clean Ammonia and North Sea Container Line.
