Yara and NYK execute ‘world’s first’ time-charter deal for ammonia-fueled medium gas carrier

Norwegian ammonia distributor Yara Clean Ammonia and Japan’s shipping company NYK Line have concluded what is said to be the “world’s first” time-charter contract for an ammonia-fueled medium gas carrier.

The vessel, to be delivered in November 2026, will fly the Japanese flag with a 40,000 cubic meter capacity and an overall length of 180 meters.

The time-charter contract follows Yara and NYK’s joint study on the practical application of an ammonia-fueled ammonia gas carrier which kicked off in 2021.

The study tasked Yara with formulating operation requirements and evaluating economic efficiency as a charterer, while NYK Line considered compliance with laws and regulations, and assessed environmental friendliness of the vessel introduction and its economics from a shipowner perspective.

As participants of this study, Nihon Shipyard was entrusted with the R&D and design of the vessel as well as estimation of CO2 emission reductions, whereas ClassNK is in charge of technical verification for safety of the design and formulation of safety and other applicable guidelines.

“Our successful collaboration with NYK enables us not only to comply with future regulations related to CO2 emissions from sea-going vessels but also helps us to ensure that our customers can receive carbon-intensity compliant clean ammonia throughout our supply chain from well to wake,” said Murali Srinivasan, Senior Vice President Commercial of Yara Clean Ammonia.

The use of an ammonia-fueled medium gas carrier is expected to “greatly contribute to significantly reducing GHG emissions” from marine transportation and developing an ammonia supply chain by providing a more environment-friendly means of ammonia transport as demand grows for ammonia use in the power sector, for marine fuel, and the like.

“I am pleased to have concluded this charter party which will give us great flexibility to manage carbon emissions and product carbon intensity. I look forward to a successful cooperation in operating this new technology to its best efficiency,” Csaba Laszlo, Vice President of Ammonia Trade & Shipping at Yara Clean Ammonia, commented.

Hironobu Watanabe, Managing Executive Officer at NYK, added: “(…) We have been developing an ammonia-fueled vessel because we believe that using alternative fuels, especially ammonia, is essential to reaching the net-zero goal. (…) We will continue to work with Yara on building an ammonia supply chain from various aspects, not only in the maritime transportation of ammonia.”