Savannah’s proximity to the Ports of Brunswick and Jacksonville may assist facilitate inexperienced ammonia bunkering of automotive carriers in addition to containerships.
A gaggle of eight U.S. and worldwide marine trade leaders is seeking to set up a provide chain to ship ship-to-ship inexperienced ammonia bunkering on the U.S. East Coast.
The initiative has began with the eight — ABS, A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S, Fleet Management Limited, Georgia Ports Authority, the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Savage Services, Sumitomo Corporation and TOTE Services — signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collectively conduct a feasibility examine that will probably be performed on the Port of Savannah, Ga.
Four of the eight are concerned in an analogous initiative that launched final yr within the Port of Singapore.
On the U.S. Atlantic coast, the Port of Savannah, residence to Garden City Terminal, the biggest single container terminal within the U.S., has the power to serve a number of ammonia-fueled extremely massive containerships (ULCSs) Its Big Berth/Big Ship program is geared toward accommodating six 14,000 TEU vessels concurrently by 2024, and is planning so as to add 60% extra capability by 2025. Savannah’s proximity to the Ports of Brunswick and Jacksonville – amongst America’s busiest car dealing with ports – may assist facilitate decarbonization efforts within the automotive delivery trade as nicely.
“The Georgia Ports Authority looks forward to learning the results of this joint feasibility study for the potential commercial readiness of ammonia as a possible alternative zero-carbon fuel source, said Joanne Caldwell, director, risk management & sustainability, at Georgia Ports Authority. “Innovative ideas in energy are key to powering Georgia’s future as a leader in responsible economic development and environmental stewardship.”
The examine goals to cowl the complete end-to-end provide chain of inexperienced ammonia bunkering, which incorporates the event of a cheap inexperienced ammonia provide chain, the design of an ammonia bunkering articulated tug-barge (AB-ATB), in addition to associated provide chain infrastructure. In addition, security assessments are important to formulate requirements to be used of ammonia as a marine gasoline. Relevant authorities companies and specialists within the U.S. will probably be engaged in working in the direction of the standardization of secure operations and rules.
Ammonia, which doesn’t emit any CO2 when combusted, is excessive on the record of different marine fuels seen as key to attaining delivery’s ambitions for reaching internet zero emissions by 2050. Ammonia produced solely from renewable sources, or inexperienced ammonia, is carbon-free and might ship well-to-wake carbon reductions.
Here’s what every of the events will contribute to the examine:
| American Bureau of Shipping | ABS will conduct operational threat evaluation of ammonia ship-to-ship bunkering and lead within the coordination with related authorities in the usto set up port rules and operational pointers. |
| A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S | Maersk will present enter particular to container vessels and can work on growth of secure and dependable ammonia bunkering procedures from operator’s perspective. |
| Fleet Management Limited | Fleet Management Limited will work on the event of secure and dependable ammonia bunkering procedures from a ship supervisor perspective, and supply technical assist within the design growth of ammonia-fueled vessels and the ammonia-bunkering ATB. |
| Georgia Ports Authority | GPA will assist within the coordination with related authorities within the U.S. to ascertain port rules and operational pointers, leveraging on its experiences in supporting the launch of LNG bunkering on the Port of Savannah. |
| Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping | The middle will conduct well-to-wake life cycle evaluation (LCA) of ammonia and assist to ascertain requirements for the secure use of ammonia as marine gasoline. |
| Savage | Savage will give attention to home ammonia transportation for Savannah, leveraging on the corporate’s competencies and expertise in relation to its operational observe file as a home ammonia service within the U.S. |
| Sumitomo Corporation | Sumitomo will construction, combine and promote the end-to-end provide chain of inexperienced/blue ammonia, which incorporates sourcing, transportation, storage and bunkering. |
| TOTE Services | TOTE will develop the ammonia-bunkering ATB and secure and dependable ammonia bunkering procedures from the ATB operator’s perspective, leveraging on competencies and experiences in relation to secure and dependable operation observe file of LNG bunkering within the U.S. |
NEW FUEL PATHWAYS
“At Maersk, we are committed to net zero by 2040,” mentioned Morten Bo Christiansen, head of power transition at A.P. Moller-Maersk. “To achieve this we need huge amounts of green fuel for our ships. 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. However, safety and environmental challenges related to ammonia’s toxicity must be addressed in the short term, and we must get a solid understanding of the cost of bunkering ammonia. This study will help our industry better understand the full spectrum of practical and safety considerations when dealing with green ammonia as a fuel.”
“TOTE Services is committed to the advancement of alternative fuel solutions that will help lead the maritime industry toward net zero emissions,” mentioned Jeff Dixon, president at TOTE Services. “We look forward to leveraging our core competencies, technical expertise, and demonstrated record of safety and reliability in the LNG market to work with this great group of industry leaders in the ship-to-ship bunkering of ammonia.”
Panos Koutsourakis, vice chairman, international sustainability at ABS, mentioned “Ammonia offers shipowners and operators a zero-carbon, tank-to-wake emissions profile. Yet, we also recognize that ammonia presents a specific set of safety and technology challenges. We look forward to engaging with the other project members and sharing our industry-leading experience with ammonia-fueled vessels to support the study.”
“We’re delighted to be contributing our technical expertise to this green ammonia study,” mentioned Kishore Rajvanshy, managing director at Hong Kong headquartered Fleet Management Limited. “As the world’s second largest ship manager, we’re committed to supporting our clients on their green energy transition journey, and in recent years have built our capabilities in designing dual fuel vessels and conducting safe and reliable ammonia bunkering. This aims to benefit not just our clients, but the decarbonization pathway for the broader shipping industry.”
“Enabling sustainable and scalable alternative fuel pathways is critically important for building confidence and investment appetite in fuel supply chains,” mentioned Claus Winter Graugaard, CTO on the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping. “At the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, we are leading multiparty scientific projects and risk management activities on how ammonia can be qualified as a sustainable and safe energy carrier for worldwide marine fuel deployment. The Port of Savannah project is a great logistical entry point for qualifying how ammonia could be made available. Furthermore, it provides a local and regional use case for commercial activation on the U.S East Coast.”
Koji Endo, common supervisor of the power division at Sumitomo Corporation, mentioned, “We embark on our ambition to build the first ship-to-ship ammonia bunkering base in the U.S in addition to Singapore and Oman, which highlight our commitment to offer our customers the best available and technologically proven solution to reduce the emission footprint from maritime transport”.
Jason Ray, president, infrastructure sector at Savage, mentioned, “Savage is pleased to collaborate with Sumitomo Corporation and other partners on this exciting project, doing our part to help advance the development of alternative marine fuels and contribute to global decarbonization efforts.”
