China's first ship-to-ship green ammonia bunkering operation was completed Tuesday at Zhoushan Port in east China's Zhejiang Province, marking a key step in the country's large-scale supply and commercial application of green marine fuel.
After about four hours of bunkering, the world's first dedicated liquid ammonia bunkering vessel, the "Shenghang Yongle," completed the transfer of 1,000 tons of green ammonia to the ammonia-powered bulk carrier "Europe Mineral."
Ship-to-ship anchorage bunkering is equivalent to setting up a platform at sea for giant vessels, allowing fuel replenishment to be carried out while unloading, waiting at anchorage, or detouring, without relying on dedicated onshore terminals.
The ocean-going vessel involved in this operation has a tonnage of 210,000 tons and a deep draft, making it difficult for most domestic coastal chemical terminals to accommodate its berthing due to water depth restrictions.
The operation was carried out at the Xiushan east anchorage in Zhoushan, which has sufficient water depth and is located at the intersection of China's north-south coastal route and the main international shipping corridor.
After bunkering, the ammonia-powered vessel will depart from Zhoushan and cross the Pacific to Australia for commercial shipping.
The green ammonia used in this operation all came from the "Qingqing No.1" Songyuan project in Songyuan City, northeast China's Jilin Province, the world's largest green hydrogen-ammonia-methanol integrated project.
After departing from Songyuan City, the green ammonia was first transported by road via cryogenic liquid ammonia tanker trucks to a tank farm at Nanjing Port in east China's Jiangsu Province, with full-chain carbon footprint tracing carried out simultaneously throughout the process.
It was then transferred to the "Shenghang Yongle" and shipped by water to Zhoushan Port, where ship-to-ship bunkering was finally completed at the Xiushan east anchorage.
"This green ammonia ship-to-ship bunkering operation was implemented across multiple regions, connecting green ammonia production, land transportation, port storage, water transportation, and ship bunkering. It proves that China has the capabilities to produce green ammonia meeting international standards on a large scale and build a cross-regional green energy supply chain, accumulating practical experience for subsequently improving the green fuel supply system and expanding international shipping application scenarios," said Li Jingguang, head of China Energy Engineering Group's hydrogen energy division.
China completes first ship-to-ship green ammonia bunkering in Zhoushan
