Sumitomo Corporation Seeks to Build Ammonia-Fuelled Bulker

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday December 29, 2021

Japan's Sumitomo Corporation is seeking to build a bulk carrier fuelled by ammonia.

The firm is set to launch a joint project with Oshima Shipbuilding to design and develop the vessel, it said in a statement on its website on Monday. The ship is expected to be around 80,000 DWT in size.

"Sumitomo Corporation will design and develop the bulk carrier, improve the navigation environment, and ensure the supply of ammonia as fuel, in cooperation with Oshima Shipbuilding and other external partners as well as with the involvement of the internal cross-organizational project team for ammonia," the company said in the statement.

Earlier this week Sumitomo said it was working with Keppel Offshore & Marine to bring an ammonia bunker supply chain to Singapore in the mid-2020s.

Ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, is among the candidate fuels being explored to replace traditional carbon-based oil bunkers in the future marine fuel mix.