New industry partnership looking into ammonia as marine fuel on US West Coast

Five maritime industry majors have formed a partnership to jointly study establishing a supply chain for the provision of clean ammonia ship-to-ship (StS) bunkering on the U.S. West Coast.

Namely, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), CALAMCO, Fleet Management Limited, Sumitomo Corporation, and TOTE Services have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on March 29, aiming to become one of the pioneers in setting up a comprehensive and competitive supply chain for clean ammonia StS bunkering on the West Coast.

The MoU will see the partners conduct a joint feasibility study at ports of Oakland, Benicia, and nearby major ports on the U.S. West Coast. Port of Benicia is one of the key vehicle-handing ports on the U.S. West Coast, while Port of Oakland also ranks among the top ten of the U.S. largest container ports.

As explained, the feasibility study sets out to explore the possibility of utilizing CALAMCO’s existing ammonia storage terminal at the port of Stockton for a pilot demonstration project of ammonia bunkering for car carriers calling at the Benicia port and container vessels calling at the Oakland port as the first step toward wide adoption of ammonia as a marine fuel on the U.S. West Coast.

ABS will conduct a risk assessment of ammonia StS bunkering and lead in the coordination with relevant authorities in the U.S. to establish port regulations and operational guidelines.

CALAMCO will conduct a feasibility study of the ammonia loading operation from its terminal to ammonia bunkering articulated tug-barge (AB-ATB), while Fleet Management Limited will work on the development of safe and reliable ammonia bunkering procedures from a ship manager point of view, and provide technical support in the design development of AFV and AB-ATB.

Sumitomo will structure, integrate, and promote the end-to-end supply chain of green/blue ammonia, which includes sourcing, transportation, storage, and bunkering.

TOTE Services will develop AB-ATB and safe and reliable ammonia bunkering procedures from AB-ATB’s point of view, leveraging their experiences in LNG bunkering in the U.S.

Panos Koutsourakis, Vice President of Global Sustainability at American Bureau of Shipping, said: “We are proud to share our industry-leading expertise in ammonia as a marine fuel to support this study on the U.S. West Coast. Our expertise in developing safety guidelines will support the consortium to address the ammonia specific set of safety and technology challenges.”

Koji Endo, General Manager of Energy Division at Sumitomo Corporation, added: “We embark on our ambition to build the first Ship to Ship ammonia bunkering base in the US West Coast in addition to Singapore, Oman and the US East Coast, which highlight our commitment to offer our customers the best available and technologically proven solution to reduce the emission footprint from maritime transport.”

ABS, Fleet Management Limited, Sumitomo, and TOTE are also part of a similar feasibility study that examines the establishment of a comprehensive and competitive supply chain for green ammonia ship-to-ship bunkering on the U.S. East Coast.

Other participants include A.P. Moller – Maersk, Georgia Ports Authority, Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, and Savage Services.