The world's first commercial ship-to-ship bunkering of green ammonia fuel, as China Energy Engineering Group (Energy China) describes it, has been completed in China.
The operation was performed on October 13 at an anchorage in Zhoushan Port, Zhejiang Province, jointly by Energy China Hydrogen Energy, Belgium’s CMB.TECH and Jiangsu Andefu Energy Technology.
From Energy China's HyFlow-1 Songyuan Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park project, a total of 1,000 tons of green ammonia was loaded through the dedicated liquid ammonia bunkering vessel Shenghang Yongle onto CMB.TECH's ammonia-powered ship, Mineral Europa.
To make the ship-to-ship bunkering operation possible, Jiangsu Andefu Energy Technology obtained a liquid ammonia bunkering license from the Zhoushan municipal government in May, after which Shenghang Yongle completed its conversion for bunkering functions in August and was assigned the class notation “Ammonia Bunkering” by China Classification Society (CCS).
Following bunkering, Mineral Europa will leave Zhoushan and cross the Pacific to Australia for commercial service.
According to Energy China, the operation achieved several world firsts, including the first commercial ship-to-ship green ammonia bunkering at anchorage, the first dedicated ammonia bunkering vessel placed in service, and the first license for ship-to-ship liquid ammonia bunkering put into use.
All the used green ammonia came from Energy China’s integrated green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol project in Songyuan, Jilin Province. Phase I of the project, which entered formal operation in December 2025, converts wind and solar power into green marine fuel through renewable power generation, water electrolysis for hydrogen, and green ammonia synthesis. The project has secured a sales contract for green ammonia for ocean-going shipping.
So far, 7,000 tons of green ammonia produced by the Songyuan project have reached the Nanjing Port tank farm and will be bunkered in batches as planned.