Lloyd’s Register to analyse potential for ammonia bunkering in Australian ports

Classification Society Lloyd’s Register will conduct a feasibility study for ammonia bunkering in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

PHOTO: Port of Dampier cargo wharf. Pilbara Ports Authority

They will study the commercial potential for ammonia as marine fuel, infrastructure requirements, and safety and regulatory requirements to support ammonia bunkering in Pilbara ports. Lloyd’s Register expects to complete the study in one year.

This announcement follows a collaboration between Australia’s Pilbara Port Authority (PPA) and Norwegian firm Yara Clean Ammonia to explore whether they can build ammonia bunker infrastructure in ports on the Australian northwest coast.

Yara already has a plant in Pilbara, which currently produces ammonia for fertilisers. It also exports ammonia from the nearby Port of Dampier, which is managed by the PPA.

“Yara Clean Ammonia's ambitions in Australia will move the dial in the energy transition and an exciting part of that is creating emission-free fuel to power ships," Yara Clean Ammonia’s vice president of bunkering, port relationships and regulation, Tessa Major said.

Yara's ammonia plant will be fed with green hydrogen produced at an upcoming nearby plant. French energy firm ENGIE will build a 640 mt/year capacity green hydrogen production plant in the Pilbara region, aiming to have it up and running by 2024.

By Shilpa Sharma

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