Wärtsilä joins RINA, Gas and Heat for ammonia-fueled bunkering vessel project

Finnish technology company Wärtsilä has partnered with Italian classification society RINA and cargo handling systems maker Gas and Heat for the development of a new ammonia-fueled bunkering vessel.

RINA and Gas and Heat announced their cooperation on the development of a cargo and fuel gas system for an ammonia-fueled bunker vessel in early 2024.

Wärtsilä has now joined the project and the three partners have signed an agreement to develop a bunkering vessel specially designed to deliver and operate on green ammonia fuel.

Under the agreement, Gas and Heat will develop the basic design of the cargo handling system while Wärtsilä will support the project by designing an optimized integrated propulsion solution in which the core element will include its recently introduced 4-stroke engine-based solution for ammonia fuel.

According to the Finnish company, the new Wärtsilä 25 Ammonia solution can immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70%, compared to a similar-sized diesel solution, meeting current EU targets until 2050 and even exceeding the IMO target for 2040.

Following this, RINA will conduct the compliance assessment of the design as part of the wider Approval in Principle process.

“Green ammonia is one of the alternative fuels of the future. We are excited that Warstila as joined our partnership with RINA to collaborate in this ambitious project. Gas and Heat is proud to work with these high level companies to offer this innovative vessel to the market,” stated Claudio Evangelisti, CEO of Gas and Heat Italy.

Stefano De Marco, Business Development, Decarbonisation Services, Wärtsilä Marine, commented: “At Wärtsilä we are fully committed to supporting the industry with reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is why we are proud to be partnering with RINA and Gas & Heat in this industry-leading project. Sustainable ammonia is one of the leading candidates in shipping’s search for alternative sustainable fuels, and the delivery of our new Wärtsilä 25 Ammonia solution will deliver the project’s overarching goal of enabling the transition to greener fuels in shipping.”

Giuseppe Zagaria, Marine South-West Technical Director at RINA, said: “RINA has long history of cooperation with Wärtsilä and we are very proud to work together once again, strengthening our project. Wärtsilä’s expertise will upgrade the technological content of our collaboration. Green ammonia has great potential to play an important role in the strategies set by IMO and EU, which will need innovative bunkering vessels to support the logistics and supply of green ammonia.”

RINA has already worked on several projects and approvals of vessels powered by ammonia, including a bunker tanker developed by Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers Singapore and SeaTech Solutions, as well as an ammonia-fueled oil/chemical tanker developed by Shanghai Shipyard.