Ammonia a 'good fit' for box ships

The potential for the uptake of ammonia in the container shipping sector should be “very good”, says TGE Marine sales director Jakob Nielsen. 

The Germany-headquartered company has worked with ammonia as cargo for more than 40 years, so has extensive knowledge on its different aspects. 

“The work TGE is currently doing can be adapted to any deepsea and oceangoing vessel that is considering moving to ammonia. We are working closely with engine manufacturers in developing systems for two-stroke engines both for MAN and WinGD applications, as well as for four-stroke engines,” says Mr Nielsen. 

Speaking about the specific suitability of container ships, he says, “Since they work in the deepsea shipping arena, and vessel sizes in the container fleet need a lot of energy for the transport, ammonia should be a good fit.”

He adds ammonia is expected to be available as a blue or green fuel in the not-too-distant future, with many ammonia projects in planning, in the Middle East, Europe and USA that should secure the future supply.

Mr Nielsen says, “As container vessels typically load and unload in industrial ports, and not in city centres or urban areas, it will be possible to adapt to regulations and safe ammonia handling.” 

Much of the work developing the ammonia fuel system is in relation to making safe systems: ensuring the system can operate safely and meet all requirements.

Mr Nielsen points out this includes the systems for bunkering, storage, ammonia release and any return flow of ammonia.

“As for any fuel gas system, a vessel adaptation should be done to make the system optimised for the vessel design and operational profile. This is not any different than from our LNG fuel gas systems, that will be modified based on the same criteria,” he says. 

TGE Marine is delivering 12 fuel gas supply systems and multi-fuel gas tanks for the new Aurora class of Oslo-based shipowner Höegh Autoliners.

The Aurora-class vessels will be the largest and most environmentally friendly car carriers ever built, with DNV’s ammonia- and methanol-ready notation ‘Ti’.

Mr Nielsen comments, “We could make a similar system for a container vessel; technically it can be easily adapted to any oceangoing vessel.

“It is a question of operations, cargo space and possible compromises on how much space is acceptable to use for a fuel system, this needs a detailed evaluations between the owner, ship designer and TGE Marine.”