MOL pens charter contract with Yara for ammonia carrier

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) has signed a time charter contract for the ammonia carrier Green Pioneer with Yara Clean Ammonia Switzerland, a group company of Yara International ASA, the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer.

The 2010-built vessel was delivered on December 25, 2023, and is expected to be engaged in the transportation of ammonia, mainly in the Pacific region.

Ammonia is now mainly used as a raw material for fertilizers, but it is expected to see a significant increase in demand in the future as a next-generation clean energy that does not emit carbon dioxide when burned, such as mixed burning in coal-fired power plants and use as a hydrogen carrier.

MOL and the Yara Group have been working together since the signing of a memorandum of understanding on decarbonization projects including ammonia area in 2022, and the conclusion of this regular charter contract is one of the achievements resulting from that agreement.

Both companies aim to build a long-term partnership in the clean ammonia field and actively expand their business to build an ammonia supply chain.

In 2021, MOL decided to re-enter the ammonia transport business after almost five years of being absent from the trade.

MOL is also supporting the ammonia transport business with the recently announced endorsement of a new strategy from the Mission Possible Partnership aimed at promoting decarbonization in industry.

The sector transition strategy “Making Net-Zero Ammonia Possible” wants to ramp up the production of zero-emission ammonia, potentially for use as a clean marine fuel.

In 2022, MOL and compatriot shipbuilders Tsuneishi Shipbuilding and Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding launched a joint project aimed at developing and building an ocean-going liquefied gas carrier that will use ammonia as its main fuel.

The vessel is envisioned as a mid-size ammonia/LPG carrier equipped with a main engine that can run mainly on ammonia, and targeting net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions while underway by using some of its ammonia cargo as fuel.