Japanese partners study turning Namikata Terminal into ammonia hub

Seven Japanese companies have joined forces to investigate the possibility of utilizing Namikata Terminal in Imabari City as an ammonia supply hub.

Namely, Shikoku Electric Power Company, Taiyo Oil Company, Taiyo Nippon Sanso Company, Mazda Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Namikata Terminal Company and Mitsubishi Corporation Clean Energy have agreed to establish the council for utilizing Namikata Terminal as a hub for introducing ammonia fuel.

The council will study the possibility of turning the terminal into a hub for clean energy. Its agenda will include scheduling, legal and regulatory issues, efficient use of the terminal, measures to grow demand for fuel ammonia in the area and other issues.

This agenda is based on the assumptions that the existing LPG tanks owned by Mitsubishi Corporation at the terminal will be converted into ammonia tanks and that the terminal will become a hub handling approximately 1 million tonnes of ammonia per year by 2030.

The partners in the council believe that the Namikata Terminal can play an important role as a supply hub to realize the establishment of an efficient supply chain of ammonia, in promoting the utilization of ammonia in the Shikoku and Chugoku regions.

The terminal handles approximately 1 million tons of LPG and other petroleum products brought in from Japan and overseas each year. It is equipped with several large-scale low-temperature LPG tanks (45,000 tons/unit) that can be converted to ammonia tanks, docking berths for large vessels and other facilities that can respond to region’s demand for ammonia.