Trafigura Completes Milestone for Ammonia in Shipping

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Shipping giant Trafigura (Singapore) said it was catering to the ongoing need for cleaner maritime fuels with its first-ever ship-to-ship transfer of ammonia.

Ammonia is a main component of fertilizers for the agriculture sector. It's also finding a home in transportation, as its chemical make-up is rich in hydrogen, a potent energy carrier, but no carbon atoms, making it essentially a zero-carbon fuel.

Trafigura said Monday that it received about 6,000 tons of ammonia from CF Industries Holdings Incorporated (NYSE:CF) (Deerfield, Illinois), which drew the product from a Louisiana-based manufacturing complex. The ammonia was then transferred from a medium gas carrier (MGC) to a smaller vessel near the port of Ceuta in the Strait of Gibraltar, making it Trafigura's first-ever ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of ammonia.

"Our first safe and efficient ship-to-ship transfer of ammonia supports our growing ammonia trading activity," said Andrea Olivi, the head of wet freight for Trafigura. "Importantly, it demonstrates the feasibility of ammonia bunkering in the future, as demand grows for the hydrogen-based low carbon fuels that will enable the shipping industry to decarbonize."

More than 90% of all the goods traded globally are carried by a ship at some point during their voyage, and most of these ships are powered by heavy fuel oil (HFO), which is very carbon-intensive.

Exacerbating the problem, shippers are using more fuel to travel around the Cape of Good Hope off the coast of South Africa to avoid possible attacks in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group. U.S. Central Command, the U.S. military's regional division, said Sunday it destroyed three drone ships that were deployed by the Houthis from Yemeni territory.

The U.N.-backed International Maritime Organization (IMO) has called on shippers to reduce harmful emissions, most recently calling for a cut in sulfur emissions. Most shippers can lower their emissions by using an onboard device called a scrubber, which washes the vessel's exhaust, or by burning cleaner fuels such as ammonia or natural gas, which is comprised mostly of methane (CH4).

Dutch multinational commodity trading company Vitol (Rotterdam), meanwhile, introduced its Marine Future bunker vessel, which will supply biofuel blends to shippers off Singapore, among the world's busiest port regions. The company said that, while early in the developmental stage, demand for biofuels in the shipping industry is expected to surge.

Vitol added that it was on pace to cut its carbon emissions 40%, compared to 2008 levels, this year. Utilizing a wide range of cleaner alternatives, the company said that no single fuel can decarbonize the shipping industry.

Trafigura, for its part, said it aims to cut the greenhouse gas intensity from its shipping fleet by 25%, against a 2019 benchmark set by the IMO, by the end of 2030. Its fleet is running on everything from liquefied natural gas to biofuels.

"It has co-sponsored the development of a two-stroke engine by MAN Energy Solutions (Houston, Texas) that can run on low carbon ammonia and is also investing in on-board emissions capture technology," it added.

Research from Princeton University finds that, if handled improperly, ammonia can lead to the release of nitrogen oxides, which contributes to smog and acid rain.

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