Monjasa Plans Green Ammonia Bunker Supply

Monjasa will serve as maritime logistics partner, facilitating the supply of ammonia from the producer to its offtake partners. Image Credit: Monjasa

Global marine fuel supplier and trading firm Monjasa has taken an early lead among large bunkering firms in securing supply of green ammonia.

The company has signed a commercial collaboration agreement with power-to-x project HØST PtX Esbjerg to provide green ammonia logistics services, it said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. Monjasa will serve as maritime logistics partner, facilitating the supply of ammonia from the producer to its offtake partners.

The project, managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is setting up a green ammonia production facility with about 600,000 mt/year of production capacity near the Danish port of Esbjerg. As part of the deal with Monjasa, the bunkering firm will have reserved for it a share of the plant's production that it can then sell as marine fuels.

First production from the plant is expected between 2028 and 2030, depending on final Danish offshore wind farm commissioning, a Monjasa representative told Ship & Bunker.

"We are excited to embark on this journey with HØST PtX Esbjerg and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners because it shows shipowners around the world that green ammonia is becoming available as a long-term marine fuel option," Jesper Nielsen, group responsibility director at Monjasa, said in the statement.

"At Monjasa, our strengths lie in maritime logistics, and we are determined to become an enabler of alternative fuels worldwide thanks to our unique industry position between fuel producers and end users.

"Only by being curious and learning from each other will we succeed in decarbonising shipping and we have a very strong partner in CIP."

Ammonia is widely expected to take up a significant share of the marine energy mix in future decades because of its lack of associated GHG emissions. But parts of the shipping industry remain wary of how it can be safely handled as a marine fuel, and further research and development work will be needed to provide reassurance on this point.

Tuesday's announcement puts Monjasa in the lead among large bunkering companies seeking to gain a foothold in the market that appears likely to emerge for green ammonia as a bunker fuel.

Marine fuels conglomerate Bunker Holding has also taken early steps in this arena as one of the founding supporters of the Bornholm Bunker Hub consortium seeking to set up a green ammonia bunkering station in the Baltic.