Hapag-Lloyd, Mabanaft to explore ammonia bunker supply

Liner shipping company Hapag Lloyd and fuel supplier Mabanaft will study low-carbon ammonia bunkering for Hapag-Lloyd’s container ships.

PHOTO: Container vessel Afif at the Burchardkai Container Terminal in the Port of Hamburg. Hapag Lloyd

The German duo will conduct the necessary evaluations in the ports of Hamburg, Germany and Houston, US. In addition, Mabanaft is exploring the prospect of developing ammonia bunkering infrastructure in the two ports.

Mabanaft-backed Gulf Coast Ammonia is building a 1.3 million mt/year grey ammonia production facility in Texas, US, that is scheduled for commissioning this year. The ammonia will be grey and non-renewable as it will be produced with steam reforming of natural gas, and no carbon capture announced. Mabanaft has agreed to offtake approximately 500,000 mt/year of the ammonia produced by the plant once it is up and running.

It is also developing large-scale green ammonia import and distribution infrastructure in the Hamburg port, in partnership with industrial gas company Air Products.

Hapag-Lloyd’s senior director of global fuel purchasing Jan Christensen says, “when produced with renewable energy, ammonia is a promising sustainable fuel that may become an integral part of the energy mix of future maritime shipping.”

By Konica Bhatt

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