Amogy, Amon Maritime forge ties on bringing ammonia-powered shipping to market

Norwegian shipping and technology company Amon Maritime and Amogy Inc., a company specializing in ammonia power solutions, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to advance carbon-free, ammonia power solutions for the global shipping industry.

Both companies are engaged in research, engineering, and business efforts in the ammonia-powered maritime space and will collaborate to accelerate the decarbonization of global transportation.

The end goal is to bring zero-carbon ammonia-powered shipping to market rapidly, offering an edge over competitors operating in this space, the duo said in a joint release.

Amon Maritime is solely focused on commercialising ammonia as fuel in several shipping segments. In 2020 the company launched Viridis Bulk Carriers, together with Navigare Logistics and Mosvolds Rederi, which will offer zero carbon shipping in the short sea bulk segment in Europe. The company will specialize in short-sea shipping, powering its ships by green and blue ammonia.

About a year ago, in cooperation with ECONNECT Energy, Amon Maritime launched Azane Fuel Solutions, which will offer scalable ammonia bunkering terminals, delivering critical infrastructure for the adoption of ammonia as fuel.

Specifically, two options for the ammonia bunkering infrastructure are planned — a shore-based and a floating option.

The first is intended for industrial ports and supply bases, allowing direct ship bunkering alongside the quay, or transfer to a bunkering barge. The second option is flexible and mobile, and thus described as “ideal” for the early years of the shift to ammonia fuel, when the first vessels may have to bring their own bunkering station to their most common ports of call.

“This partnership with Amon Maritime is a very important milestone for Amogy, as we focus our attention on demonstrating the viability of our unique ammonia-to-power system in seagoing vessels,” said Seonghoon Woo, CEO & Co-Founder at Amogy.

“With their existing, high-value relationships, Amon Maritime is the perfect partner to help deliver game-changing ammonia power solutions to more of the shipping industry.”

Amogy, launched in 2020 by four MIT Ph.D. alumni, has developed a proprietary ammonia-to-power technology platform to decarbonize the global transportation industry. The technology has been demonstrated successfully in an aerial drone and farming tractor, and the Amogy team is already working on scaling the platform for use in larger vehicles, including ships. 

The duo said that Amogy’s platform will be evaluated for use across current and future Amon Maritime initiatives, which span much of the ammonia-powered shipping value chain. Together, the companies will work to identify ways to make scalable, decarbonized power solutions accessible to the shipping industry through pilot and full-scale commercial projects.

“In Amogy, we have identified a partner to help expedite the commercialization of ammonia power for use in these vessels,” said André Risholm, Founder & CEO at Amon Maritime.

“We’re excited to collaborate with the entire Amogy team to offer our global shipping partners pioneering solutions for lowering emissions while maintaining efficient operations using ammonia.”

Earlier this year, Amon Maritime formed a 50/50 joint venture with Hamburg-based maritime services company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) named Ula Ship Management.

The joint venture, which will be based in Sandefjord in southern Norway, aims to offer ship management services for the Norwegian market, specializing in ammonia-powered vessels, but open to all types of ships.

Amon Maritime intends to launch a fleet of ammonia-powered ships which will be managed by Ula Ship Management.