Alternative fuel solutions in 2024: Ten milestones to remember

The year behind us was marked by numerous advancements in developing alternative fuel solutions and technologies on the maritime decarbonization quest. The following article brings you an overview of ten milestones that painted the industry landscape in 2024.

In early 2024, German engine maker MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) and its licensee Mitsui E&S completed the hydrogen combustion operation of a large marine 2-stroke test engine with a bore size of 50 cm on the premises of Mitsui E&S Tamano factory in Japan.

The partners reported that stable operation was achieved at various loads and operating conditions, including successful hydrogen combustion up to 100% load. Mitsui E&S also confirmed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions of up to 95%, with the remaining fraction originating from the pilot-fuel employed during testing.

Classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) released an industry-first advisory on methanol bunkering in April 2024, providing the maritime industry with insight into the challenges of bunkering methanol and strategies to address them.

The ABS Methanol Bunkering: Technical and Operational Advisory delivers guidance regarding the technical and operational challenges of the supplier to the receiving vessel including critical design issues, regulatory compliance, safe practices, areas of operational processes to consider, training and safety aspects.

Fast forward to June 23, 2024, Singapore-based independent common carrier X-Press Feeders took delivery of the first methanol dual-fuel retrofitted feeder vessel, the 1,170 TEU Eco Umande, from PaxOcean’s Zhoushan yard in China.

Several days later, on July 9, the shipping player launched Europe’s first scheduled feeder network serviced by green methanol-powered vessels, starting with Rotterdam and Antwerp Bruges to Finland and the Baltics.

In late August 2024, Japanese shipping giant NYK Line revealed that the conversion of the LNG-fueled tugboat Sakigake to an ammonia-fueled tugboat had been completed, creating “the world’s first” ammonia-powered ship for commercial use.

The ammonia-fueled tugboat is part of a Green Innovation Fund Project initiated in October 2021 under Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to develop vessels equipped with domestically produced ammonia-fueled engines.

Another “world’s first” development took place in September 2024 when the Global Center for Maritime Decarbonization-led consortium performed a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of ammonia at anchorages within the Port of Dampier.

Two STS transfers were undertaken between Green Pioneer, a 35,000 cubic meter (cbm) ammonia carrier owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), and Navigator Global, a 22,500 cbm ammonia carrier owned by UK-based shipowner and operator Navigator Gas. The trial involved a dual transfer of 4,000 cbm (approximately 2,715 tonnes) of ammonia, first from Green Pioneer to Navigator Global, and then back to Green Pioneer.

U.S.-based provider of ammonia-to-power solutions Amogy revealed a successful maiden voyage of its carbon-free, ammonia-powered vessel, NH3 Kraken, signaling a ‘step forward’ for the maritime industry as it sails toward its net-zero targets.

The tugboat sailed on a tributary of the Hudson River upstream from New York City on September 23, 2024, showcasing the potential of Amogy’s ammonia cracking technology, which converts liquid ammonia into its base elements of hydrogen and nitrogen, and then funnels the hydrogen into a fuel cell.

The potential of ammonia as a marine fuel was also the highlight of October 2024 when South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries completed the model-based class approval testing for the ‘HiMSEN’ ammonia dual-fuel engine at its Engine Technology Center in Ulsan.

Described as the ‘first’ ammonia engine in the world, applied with a high-pressure ammonia direct injection method, it is said to be suitable not only for ammonia carriers but also for marine power generation and propulsion purposes. The company also plans to supply the engine to land-based power generation markets.

The milestone conversion of Maersk Halifax, a 14,000 TEU containership owned by Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller–Maersk, into a methanol dual-fuel vessel made the headlines in November 2024.

Maersk Halifax entered the Chinese shipyard in July 2024 for the three-month conversion and upgrade process and departed anchorage at the yard on November 4, 2024. Following the completion of sea trials, the containership returned to operation, servicing the Trans-Pacific trade.

At the end of 2024, German engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) moved on to a new phase in the development of its ammonia engine with the commencement of testing a full-scale, two-stroke engine running on ammonia at its Research Centre Copenhagen (RCC).

Ole Pyndt Hansen, Head of Two-Stroke R&D, MAN ES, said the next phase will focus on, among other parameters, combustion and emissions, engine-tuning, atomizer testing and control-system verification, provisionally set to continue until mid-2025.

Swiss marine power company WinGD run its ten-cylinder 92-bore 10X92DF-M engine on a testbed at full load on more than 95% methanol fuel at CSSC-MES Diesel (CMD) in Shanghai, China, in mid-December.

The X-DF-M engine will be installed on the fourth of a series of 16,000 TEU container vessels being built for COSCO Shipping Lines at the COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) shipyard in China. Reportedly, the single-fuel 10X92-B engines on earlier vessels in the series will be converted to methanol once the first newbuild X-DF-M engine has been commissioned.