Norway’s Amon Maritime has informed Shipping Telegraph that it is launching a new venture Amon Gas with a NOK 180m investment ($17.09m) grant from Enova to build ammonia-powered MGCs.
The grant was awarded at a ceremony hosted by the Norwegian minister of climate and the environment together with Enova at DNV HQ at Høvik.
Amon Maritime chief executive André Risholm said: “This is a significant milestone towards realizing carbon free transportation systems within the gas carrier segment. Amon Gas will provide the market with low-emission vessels while simultaneously meeting customer demands with innovative solutions.”
Amon Gas is targeting a shipbuilding series starting with 2 firm orders of ammonia-powered MGCs with a goal of being in operation by 2028.
The vessels are designed to use ammonia as fuel, for both propulsion and power consumption, also when transporting LPG as cargo and incorporates the best energy-saving measures.
MGC is a large vessel type with high fuel consumption. This means that the climate impact per ship by switching to ammonia as fuel will be significant.
As Amon Maritime explains, carbon emission calculations give an estimated 87% reduction compared to conventional vessels from the start of operations, with ambitions for further reductions towards 100%.
Image: Amon Gas MGC illustration
Amon Maritime CTO, Steinar Kostøl, noted: “If ammonia is the fuel of the future, it will lead to a high growth in sea transport of ammonia. Ammonia is primarily transported on MGCs today.
“If the ship transports ammonia, the “chicken-and-egg” dilemma of making bunkering available is avoided—the substance is already on board as cargo.
“Because the ship is already designed for transporting ammonia, the relative additional cost in this segment compared to conventional ships will be less than in most other segments.”
