According to information released by China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), at the Zhoushan Anchorage in Zhejiang Province, the world’s first dedicated liquid ammonia bunkering vessel Shenghang Yongle completed a 1,000-tonne green ammonia bunkering operation for a 210,000-tonne ammonia-fuelled bulk carrier on the 13th. This marks the world’s first ship-to-ship bunkering of green ammonia fuel. After the operation, the ammonia-powered vessel will depart Zhoushan, cross the Pacific Ocean for Australia, and commence commercial shipping.

“This bunkering operation was accomplished jointly by us, Belgium’s CMB.TECH Maritime Group and Jiangsu Andefu Energy Technology Co., Ltd. It achieved the world’s first full-chain integration of green ammonia as a marine green fuel covering ‘production – storage & transportation – bunkering – application’. This milestone signals that China’s green ammonia industry is advancing from ‘small-scale demonstration’ to ‘routine commercial operation’,” stated Li Jingguang, Party Secretary and Chairman of CEEC Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd. As the International Maritime Organization’s net-zero emissions target for shipping draws closer, the shipping sector’s demand for zero-carbon alternative fuels is shifting from policy-driven adoption to an essential global market requirement.

Industry insiders note that green ammonia can be produced on a large scale using wind, solar, hydropower and air resources, delivering near-zero carbon emissions over its entire lifecycle. It also features high volumetric energy density, easy liquefaction for storage and transport, and compatibility with existing hazardous chemical storage and transportation infrastructure. For these reasons, green ammonia is one of the zero-carbon fuels with promising commercialisation prospects for decarbonising deep-sea shipping.

The green ammonia used in this bunkering operation was entirely sourced from CEEC’s “Qingqing No.1” Songyuan Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park (integrated green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol project). The green ammonia was shipped from Songyuan in Jilin Province, transported by road via LNG tank trucks to Andefu’s tank farm at Nanjing Port, then carried by the bunkering vessel Shenghang Yongle to Zhoushan Port, before the final ship-to-ship bunkering at Zhoushan Anchorage. This sequence of operations realised full-chain connectivity of green ammonia, spanning production, overland transport, port storage, waterborne shipment and offshore ship-to-ship bunkering, while meeting carbon emission requirements across the whole supply chain.

“This bunkering exercise proves that China is capable of large-scale production of internationally compliant green ammonia and building cross-regional green energy supply chains. It demonstrates China’s strengths in green ammonia in terms of environmental performance, cost competitiveness and complete industrial supporting facilities. It also accumulates experience for subsequent commissioning of ammonia storage tanks at Panjin Port in Liaoning and the development of a large-scale commercial logistics system for direct marine supply of green ammonia,” said Li Jingguang.