MOL and CMB.TECH seal deal for ammonia-powered bulker, tanker fleet

Japan’s shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), its Singapore-headquartered subsidiary MOL Chemical Tankers (MOLCT), and Belgium-based shipowner CMB.TECH have signed a ‘major’ agreement covering the operations of nine dual-fuel ammonia-powered vessels under construction at two Chinese yards.

Per CMB.TECH, the parties have inked a deal to jointly own and charter what is being hailed as ‘the world’s first’ ammonia dual-fuel Newcastlemax bulkers and chemical tankers.

A trio of the newbuilds, comprising 210,000 dwt dual-fuel ammonia-equipped Capesize bulkers, was ordered at China’s Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).

MOL Group has told Offshore Energy that the Capesize units will be owned by CMB.TECH’s and MOL’s joint venture, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will charter the ships for a period of twelve years each. They are planned to be delivered in 2026 and 2027.

On the other hand, CMB.TECH has booked a 26,000 dwt chemical tanker sextet at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Yangzhou) Dingheng. The tankers are going to be chartered to MOLCT for ten and seven years each, respectively, the company revealed.

As per MOLCT, two of these units will be delivered with their dual-fuel engines equipped, while four will be handed over as ammonia-ready, opening the door for future retrofitting. As informed, the tankers are going to be turned over in 2028 and 2029.

Alexander Saverys, Chief Executive Officer of CMB.TECH, highlighted that the agreement with the Japanese partner(s) represented a nudge forward for the company to further align operations with global environmental stipulations and guidelines.

“MOL and CMB.TECH share the same vision of decarbonizing the maritime industry, and the partnership for these nine vessels is a major milestone towards achieving the shipping industry’s goals of net zero emissions by 2050,” he shared.

Representatives from MOL Chemical Tankers have further spotlighted that the recent agreement is aligned with the company’s own ambitions to accomplish zero emissions by 2050, as underlined in the MOL Group’s Environmental Vision 2.2.

To remind, in 2023, CMB.TECH and Swiss marine power company WinGD joined forces to engineer ammonia-fueled two-stroke engines which, as noted at the time, were going to be installed on a series of ten 210,000 dwt bulkers that Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding would construct. It is understood that these were the ‘first’ ammonia engines to be built in China.

In October the following year, Qingdao Beihai revealed that the construction of “the world’s first 210,000-ton ammonia dual-fuel bulk carrier” had officially commenced.

On the other hand, as parts of its efforts to own an eco-friendly fleet, MOL placed an order for two ammonia dual-fuel bulk carriers at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding in December 2024. According to Greece-based shipbroker Intermodal, the units were priced at $93 million each.