Australia’s Oceania Marine Energy and Norway’s Kanfer Shipping have signed a letter of intent to bring what they say is the world’s first ammonia-ready LNG bunkering vessel.
The duo plans to build a “long-term zero emission sustainable shipping industry in
Australia using LNG as the transition fuel and move towards green ammonia and methanol as the targeted fuel for bunkering vessels operating in the Northwest and Eastern ports of
Australia.”
In that regard, Oceania is progressing its LNG bunker license applications with key port authorities, but it is also engaging in preliminary talks with Australian natural gas and green ammonia, according to a joint statement.
Moreover, the Australian firm is working with energy, shipping and industry partners to realise this development.
On the other side, Kanfer, which recently ordered two LNG bunkering vessels in China, has an exclusive design license with CGR Arctic Marine, focused on enabling liquid gas
transportation with the “lowest possible environmental footprint.”
Furthermore, the vessel design utilises LNG as a fuel combined with hybrid and peak energy saving technologies from Kongsberg Maritime, the statement said.
Also, the ships’ Rolls-Royce Bergen gas engines can be converted to operate on ammonia but the vessel can also be adapted to load LNG, methanol or ammonia.
“The Northwest and Eastern regions of Australia have among the highest levels of heavy
tonnage marine traffic in the world, making them ideally suited for adoption of zero emission fuels,” Stig Hagen, managing partner at Kanfer, said.
Hagen added the firm looks forward to working with Oceania and offer solutions for Australia to become an “attractive LNG bunkering hub in the region.”