The Norwegian state enterprise owned by the ministry of climate and environment Enova is now supporting new projects that use hydrogen and ammonia as fuel in ships, in the latest round of investments in emission-free shipping.
Amon Maritime has secured a NOK 253m investment grant from Enova to support the construction of two newbuild bulk carriers powered by ammonia, Amon Bulk 1 and Amon Bulk 2.
The two vessels represent different segments and sizes. Specifically, Amon Bulk 1 is a capesize bulk carrier, typically around 180 000 deadweight tons (dwt), designed for long-haul transport of heavy bulk commodities.
On the other hand, Amon Bulk 2 is a kamsarmax bulk carrier, approximately 80 000-85 000 dwt, offering greater port flexibility while maintaining high cargo capacity and energy efficiency.
The grant is awarded under Enova’s program for ammonia-powered vessels and marks a major step toward the 2050 targets.
“The technology is still new. Now we will support the industry in building experience”, says Nils Kristian Nakstad, managing director of Enova.
Amon’s newbuilds are scheduled for delivery by 2029 and are said to be part of a new generation of zero-emission bulk carriers.
“With Amon Bulk, we are taking a significant step toward decarbonizing bulk trades in deep-sea shipping with ammonia fuel,” says André Risholm, CEO of Amon Maritime.
Meanwhile, LH2 Shipping was awarded a grant of MNOK 237,6 for building two bulk carriers powered by liquid hydrogen (LH₂) to operate in the shortsea segment.
With this new Enova-backed project, LH2 Shipping is now scaling up and expanding into new ship segments where fuel cells and batteries are working together in hybrid systems.
