MOL, GCMD and Yara Clean Ammonia succeeds ammonia STS trial in Australia port
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. has joined the Ammonia STS trial which was led and successfully completed by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), according to the company's release.
In the absence of ammonia bunkering infrastructure, STS transfers offer the closest proxy to bunkering operations when it replicates the essential steps involved. With this objective in mind, the trial was conducted with a transfer to simulate bunkering at the Port of Dampier in the Pilbara region of Australia, an ammonia production region. It is also expected to be one of the ammonia bunkering hubs in near future, leveraging the port's experience with ammonia export. During this trial, two STS transfers of 4,000 cubic meters of Ammonia took place between MOL's LPG/Ammonia carrier "Green Pioneer" and the "Navigator Global" owned by Navigator Gas.
Prior to the trial, together with Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA), the Green Pioneer's charterer as well as the supplier of the ammonia used in this trial, MOL provided contribution to have marine-experts on board during the trial period to provide technical guidance as an Impact partner of GCMD. In addition, MOL has repeatedly joined detailed discussions with GCMD, YCA, and other project partners, including safety consultants, STS service providers, ports, Australian Government agencies, to ensure the safe operation of the series of STS.
MOL and the Yara Clean Ammonia have been working together since the signing of a memorandum of understanding on decarbonization projects including ammonia area in 2022, and the success of this trial has been achieved through close collaboration aligned with this agreement.
These STS transfer trials were part of a GCMD-led initiative in collaboration with Partners to enable ammonia as a marine fuel. The consortium conducted risks and safety studies and develop emergency response procedures for the transfers based on the findings and recommendation from GCMD's 2023 safety study on piloting ammonia bunkering and its plans for actual operations.
