Trading company ITOCHU, shipping major Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) and conglomerate Sumitomo have been shortlisted to develop ammonia bunkering in Singapore.

PHOTO: Jurong Port Singapore. Facebook of Jurong Port

These companies are bunkering partners in two separate consortia that have been finalised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to develop ammonia bunkering and power generation on Singapore’s Jurong Island.

The Singapore government's Energy Market Authority (EMA) and MPA will now choose one of these consortia to lead the entire project.

When selected as the lead developer, the bunker partner must be able to provide at least 100,000 mt/year of ammonia bunkering on Jurong Island. The first bunkering operations will be carried out by trucks, followed by ship-to-ship bunkering.

Exploring ammonia as a future bunker fuel

NYK Line owns one ammonia-fuelled tugboat, which was recently bunkered in Japan’s Yokohama Port. The company also plans to commercially launch an ammonia-fuelled ammonia carrier by 2026 and plans to issue green bonds totalling 100 billion yen ($653 million) to finance the construction of four ammonia-fuelled vessels by 2030.

ITOCHU is participating in a study exploring the feasibility of developing ammonia-fuelled ships. In addition, it is a co-developer in Saudi-listed renewable energy firm ACWA Power’s green ammonia production plant in Egypt. The plant will have an initial capacity of 600,000 mt/year, and ITOCHU intends to use some or all of the green ammonia sourced from this plant for bunkering in the Suez Canal.

Sumitomo and Norwegian logistics company Höegh Autoliners plan to supply green and blue ammonia as bunker fuel at the ports of Singapore and Jacksonville starting in 2027. Sumitomo has also partnered with a group of companies to study the feasibility of establishing a supply chain to support ship-to-ship ammonia bunkering in the US West Coast ports, including Oakland and Benicia.

By Konica Bhatt

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