Sembcorp Marine receives AiP for ammonia bunkering vessel design

The design was the result of a collaboration between Sembcorp Marine’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard and LMG Marin, as well as Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) and Itochu Corporation.

The vessel, if realised, would be the first of this kind of bunker vessel. The companies carried out a comprehensive HAZID analysis, and the design took ammonia’s toxicity into consideration, with design input on the cargo containment system and bunkering system from Wärtsilä Gas Solutions and Trelleborg Westbury/KLAW LNG respectively.

Itochu, Itochu Enex, Vopak, Pavilion Energy, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Total announced in May 2021 that they have partnered to develop ammonia as a marine fuel in Singapore.

Ammonia tanker design

In December 2021, LMG Marin secured a contract to design the world’s first green ammonia-fuelled tanker, the MS Green Ammonia, for Grieg Edge, the dedicated innovation unit of the Grieg Maritime Group. Powered by green ammonia, the zero-emission vessel will transport and distribute green ammonia fuel from a production facility in Berlevåg, Norway, to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole from 2024, replacing coal-fired power.

Hydrogen bunker fuel designs

Sembcorp Marine is also involved in hydrogen fuelled ship design. In April 2021, it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Shell and Penguin International to jointly develop hydrogen as a marine fuel.

Previously, LMG Marin designed the MF HYDRA, a zero-emission vessel operated by Norled powered by liquid hydrogen. The 82 metre vessel has capacity for up to 300 passengers and 80 cars and a service speed of about nine knots. Equipped with an 80m3 liquid hydrogen tank, the vessel is able to sail for up to three weeks without refuelling. Its propulsion system allows batteries to operate in conjunction with the liquid fuel hydrogen fuel cells and also includes a redundancy feature that allows the ferry to sail on biodiesel.