The U.K.’s Lloyd’s Register, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Malaysian shipping company MISC Bhd., through its Singapore-based tanker company AET Tankers, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the design and construction of two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).
The two ships, which are likely to become the first large ammonia-fueled oil vessels in service, will be capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil each and will run on ammonia and low-sulfur fuel oil. The dual-fuel ammonia VLCCs are slated to be operational in late 2025 and early 2026.
The companies, together with Germany’s MAN Energy Solutions, announced in January 2020 that they were collaborating on exploring ammonia as a marine fuel under the so-called “Ammonia-fueled Tanker Joint Development Project” (JDP) and “Castor Initiative.” The coalition is encouraging the use of green ammonia.
Oslo-based Yara International ASA joined the project in February 2021 (GM Feb. 26, 2021), and is expected to provide the ammonia for the two ships.