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Nitrogen+Syngas 394 Mar-Apr 2025

19 March 2025

Time charter agreement for ammonia powered gas carrier

JAPAN

Time charter agreement for ammonia powered gas carrier

Yara Clean Ammonia has signed a time-charter contract with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) for an ammonia-fuelled medium gas carrier, to be delivered in November 2026. Medium gas carriers are the most popular type of vessel for international shipping of ammonia, and Yara and NYK have been studying the possibilities of running them off ammonia fuel since 2021. Yara Clean Ammonia operates the largest global ammonia network with 15 ships and has, through Yara, access to 18 ammonia terminals and multiple ammonia production and consumption sites across the world. Yara says that use of an AFMGC will contribute to reducing GHG emissions from marine transportation and developing an ammonia supply chain by providing a more environment-friendly means of ammonia transport as demand grows for ammonia use in the power sector, for marine fuel, and the like.

“Our successful collaboration with NYK enables us not only to comply with future regulations related to CO2 emissions from sea-going vessels but also helps us to ensure that our customers can receive carbon-intensity compliant clean ammonia throughout our supply chain from well to wake,” said Murali Srinivasan, Senior Vice President Commercial in Yara Clean Ammonia.

Latest in Asia

Nickel Industries starts up ENC acid plant

Nickel Industries announced started up the sulphuric acid plant at its new Excelsior Nickel Cobalt (ENC) HPAL project in the final week of June. The ENC Project is a massive, multi-billion dollar high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) facility located in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is operated by Australia’s Nickel Industries to supply battery-grade materials for the electric vehicle (EV) market. At capacity, it is expected to yield roughly 72,000 t/a of contained nickel equivalent as mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), nickel sulphate, and nickel cathode.

Russia bans rail transport of Kazakh sulphur

Russia has ordered a “temporary cessation” of rail transport of all sulphur originating from Kazakhstan that is destined for Russian seaports and railway checkpoints, representing a significant policy shift, according to an official order from the Federal Agency for Railway Transport (Roszheldor). The directive, which took effect from May 26th, orders a halt to the loading and movement of Kazakh sulphur “until further notice.” While the measure is officially described as temporary, the order provides no specific timeline for when the transit might resume. The action cites instructions from Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, D.V. Manturov, as its basis.

Restart for Hongda smelter

Hongda's 100,000 t/a zinc smelter, in China's Sichuan Province, completed scheduled maintenance and equipment upgrading and officially resumed production on 21st June, the company said. The smelter had been shut down for planned maintenance since January, during which time a modernisation project for the electrolytic zinc smelting system was also carried out. Following the nearly six-month revamp, the resumption of production is expected to improve overall operational efficiency, reduce unit production costs, and increase the utilisation rate, The company said. The stable supply of sulphuric acid generated by the zinc smelter will effectively leverage the synergies of the "sulphur-phosphorus" industrial chain in the company, an help alleviate cost pressures on the company's phosphorus chemical business segment.