Dalian hosts world's first green ammonia bunkering

In a historic milestone for shipping, a dual-fuel port tugboat was bunkered with an unspecified quantity of green ammonia at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry's terminal at the Port of Dalian in China.

IMAGE: A tugboat receiving green ammonia stem at the Port of Dalian in China. Envision Energy

The green ammonia was produced by renewable energy firm Envision Energy and supplied by local bunker provider China Shipping & Sinopec Suppliers.

Envision Energy recently commissioned its green ammonia plant in Chifeng, with a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year. The company plans to begin exports by the fourth quarter of this year and scale up output to 1.5 million mt/year by 2028.

According to Envision Energy, the ammonia-capable dual-fuel tugboat can achieve “an ammonia substitution rate of up to 91%, significantly reducing reliance on traditional fossil fuels and effectively cutting carbon emissions during operations.”

In practical terms, this means that up to 91% of the conventional fuel used for propulsion can be replaced by ammonia, with the remaining 9% typically consisting of conventional fuel to support ignition and combustion stability.

The Dalian bunkering operation shows that zero-emission potential fuels like green ammonia can be scaled to meet the needs of the maritime sector, Frank Yu, senior vice president at Envision Energy said.

The operation also makes Dalian the "world's first port" to offer a wide range of alternative fuels for bunkering, such as biofuel, green methanol, LNG and green ammonia, Envision Energy added.

By Konica Bhatt

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