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Trafigura: First ammonia STS transfer demonstrates feasibility of ammonia bunkering

Firm’s first STS transfer of ammonia demonstrates feasibility of ammonia bunkering in the future as demand grows for hydrogen-based low carbon fuels, says Andrea Olivi, Head of Wet Freight for Trafigura.

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Trafigura: First ammonia STS transfer demonstrates feasibility of ammonia bunkering

Commodity trading firm Trafigura Group Pte Ltd (Trafigura) on Monday (1 July) said it has successfully completed its first ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of ammonia. 

This took place last week in international waters close to the port of Ceuta in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Approximately 6,000 metric tonnes of ammonia (NH3), supplied by CF Industries from their Donaldsonville, Louisiana-based manufacturing complex, was safely transferred between Medium Gas Carrier (MGC) Green Power owned by ship owner/operator Purus on time charter to Trafigura, and Small Gas Carrier Gas Aegean

The shipment will be received by Fertiberia for the production of fertiliser.

The STS operation was conducted by International Fender Provider (IFP) in line with current regulations. STS transfers are commonly used for other commodities to load cargo onto more suitable vessels for delivery to the destination, however until recently have not been widely adopted by the ammonia industry.

“Our first safe and efficient ship-to-ship transfer of ammonia supports our growing ammonia trading activity. Importantly, it demonstrates the feasibility of ammonia bunkering in the future as demand grows for the hydrogen-based low carbon fuels that will enable the shipping industry to decarbonise,” said Andrea Olivi, Head of Wet Freight for Trafigura.

In May 2024, Trafigura signed a contract for four MGCs that will be capable of using low-carbon ammonia as a propulsion fuel when delivered. The vessels will be built at HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, South Korea, with the first ship to be delivered in 2027.

"We are proud to partner with Trafigura on this historic STS with Green Power, one of our seven modern MGCs for ammonia transport. This STS transfer demonstrates our capability to offer customers end-to-end floating pipeline solutions for energy transition cargoes that can offer greater flexibility and speed-to-market than conventional onshore storage tanks, accelerating the clean energy transition," said a spokesperson from Purus.

Trafigura is one of the world’s largest charterers of vessels, responsible for more than 5,000 voyages a year with around 400 ships currently under management. 

The company has committed to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of its shipping fleet by 25 percent by the end of FY2030, against the 2019 IMO benchmark. Since 2020, Trafigura has led the industry in calling for a global carbon levy on marine fuels to incentivise and accelerate the uptake of low-carbon marine fuels.

Trafigura said its shipping team is one of the few operators to have tested a full range of alternative shipping fuels including LNG, methanol, LPG and biofuels on its owned and chartered vessels. 

It has co-sponsored the development of a two-stroke engine by MAN Energy Solutions that can run on low carbon ammonia and is also investing in on-board emissions capture technology.

 

Photo credit: Trafigura
Published: 2 July, 2024

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Alternative Fuels

Ammonia, methanol bunkering infrastructures among 39 projects to receive EU funding

Both projects aim to deploy a ship-to-ship bunkering system at the ports of Huelva and Algeciras respectively and include a 7500 m3 bunkering vessel each.

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Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash

Editor's Note [12 February 2025] : Article updated on CEPSA 

Two projects involving ammonia and methanol bunkering infrastructures in the ports of Huelva and Algeciras in Spain were among 39 projects to receive funding under the first cut-off deadline of 2024-2025 Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), according to the European Commission recently. 

The first ammonia bunkering infrastructure will be in Algecirasa as part of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. The project aims to deploy a ship-to-ship ammonia bunkering system in the port of Algeciras. 

It includes a 7500 m3 ammonia bunkering vessel, an on-shore ship loading system and the piping infrastructure for the transport of ammonia from the production site to the loading dock.  

Meanwhile, the first methanol bunkering infrastructure will be in Huelva, also as part of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. The project aims to deploy a ship-to-ship methanol bunkering system in the port of Algeciras. 

It includes a 7500 m3 methanol bunkering vessel, an on shore ship loading system and the piping infrastructure for the transport of methanol from the production site to the loading dock.

The coordinator for both bunkering projects is Spanish bunker fuel supplier CEPSA, which has been renamed to Moeve in October last year. 

The European Commission said the EU is allocating nearly EUR 422 million to the 39 projects that will deploy alternative fuels supply infrastructure along the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), contributing to decarbonisation. 

With this selection, the AFIF will support other projects including approximately 2,500 electric recharging points for light-duty vehicles and 2,400 for heavy-duty vehicles along the European TEN-T road network, 35 hydrogen refuelling stations for cars, trucks and buses, the electrification of ground handling services in eight airports and the greening of nine ports.

Following EU Member States’ approval of the selected projects on 4 February, the European Commission will adopt the award decision in the coming months, after which the results will become definitive. 

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) has started the preparation of the grant agreements with the beneficiaries of successful projects.

Note: The full list of successful projects can be viewed here.

 

Photo credit: Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash
Published: 11 February, 2025

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Ammonia

Enova awards funding to 15 projects exploring ammonia bunkering in Norway

Ammonia AS, AZANE Fuel Solutions, and Iverson eFuels among the projects that have been awarded pre-project funding to explore investments in bunkering facilities for ammonia as a marine fuel.

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Enova awards 15 projects exploring ammonia bunkering in Norway

Norwegian state-owned enterprise Enova on Wednesday (5 February) announced 15 projects have been awarded pre-project funding to explore investments in bunkering facilities for ammonia as a marine fuel.

The projects cover the Norwegian coast from the Oslo Fjord in the south to Troms in the north.

"We received more applications than we had expected in this round. This shows that many players are working purposefully on projects to offer bunkering of ammonia to the maritime sector, and this is gratifying to see,” said Børge Noddeland, who is responsible for the Pre-project maritime technology support programme.

The companies to receive support for their projects are:

  • Ammonia AS
  • AZANE Fuel Solutions 
  • Boreal sjø AS
  • Grieg Group Ammonia Distribution Vessels AS
  • Hitra Municipality 
  • Iverson eFuels AS 
  • Neptun Tromsø AS
  • Skiga AS

The projects receive up to NOK 500,000 (USD 44,463) in support, and have six months to mature the projects towards a possible investment decision and realisation of the projects. In the next round, the best projects will be able to apply for investment support from Enova for the upcoming support programme "Bunkering plants for ammonia." 

"To succeed with this initiative, we are dependent on good projects in all parts of the value chain. Now an important next step is to establish infrastructure for bunkering ammonia along the Norwegian coast,” said Sigmund Ø. Størset, goal manager for hydrogen at Enova.

“It is therefore very positive to see that so many players are working on this part of the value chain, and that the geographical spread of the projects covers large parts of the Norwegian coast.”

 

Photo credit: Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash
Published: 6 February, 2025

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Alternative Fuels

Hapag-Lloyd secures USD 4 billion green financing for 24 large containerships

Firm said it has obtained long-term financing for 24 new LNG dual-fuel, ammonia-ready containerships that it ordered from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and New Times Shipbuilding in October.

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Hapag-Lloyd's "Essen Express" (13,169 TEU) heading towards the ‘Köhlbrandbrücke’

Hapag-Lloyd on Tuesday (4 February) said it has fully secured USD 4 billion long-term financing for 24 new LNG dual-fuel, ammonia-ready containerships that it ordered from two Chinese shipyards last October. 

Of these, 12 newbuildings – each with a capacity of 16,800 TEU – will be built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group. These units will be used to expand the capacity of services that are already in place. 

An additional 12 ships, each with a capacity of 9,200 TEU, have been ordered from New Times Shipbuilding Company Ltd. and will replace older units in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet that will be nearing the end of their service life in this decade.

The ships will be equipped with low-emission and fuel-efficient high-pressure liquefied gas dual-fuel engines. 

In addition, these vessels can be operated using biomethane, which can reduce CO2e emissions by up to 95% compared to conventional propulsion systems. The new ships will also be ammonia ready.

Hapag-Lloyd will take delivery of the new vessels between 2027 and 2029. The newbuildings will have a combined capacity of 312,000 TEU.

The financing consists of four components. Around USD 900 million of the purchase price will be financed using the company’s own funds. A total of USD 500 million will be made available from two banks in the form of bilateral mortgage loans.

Another part, in the amount of USD 1.8 billion, will be financed via three leasing structures, and USD 1.1 billion will be financed via a syndicated credit facility backed by the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). The financing share amounts to a total of around 80% of the investment volume, with maturities ranging between 10 and 18 years.

The financing will be carried out on the basis of Hapag-Lloyd’s Green Financing Framework, which in turn complies with the standards of the Green Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association (LMA). This has been verified by an independent expert opinion of the international classification society DNV, as has the high efficiency of the ships and their compliance with the EU Taxonomy.

“We are continuously modernizing our fleet in order to deliver a high quality of service and to achieve our ambitious decarbonization goals,” said Mark Frese, CFO/CPO of Hapag-Lloyd AG. 

“The successful conclusion of several attractive financial transactions confirms that green financing components are becoming increasingly important. In addition, we are pleased to be able to finance newbuild projects in China for the first time with the Sinosure transaction.”

 

Photo credit: Hapag-Lloyd
Published: 5 February, 2025

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